Naruto's Inferno
by LunarSkies2383
Summary: How far would you go to save the one you love? For Naruto, he'll journey to the very depths of hell to do so. Summary inside. Please enjoy and review.
1. Life

Naruto's Inferno

This story will have some strong relations to the epic poem/video game Dante's Inferno. But it will have some tweaks here and there story wise on how things are told as well as different themes from Japanese culture.

I'll also try to use all the recent powers and abilities available to the characters thus far as well as try to keep in relative personality to each of them.

Synopsis: A young man stood within the dark forest of life to which the path was not so clear anymore. For without a destination, it was impossible to go forwards or backwards anymore. But in the presence of tragedy it was clear what the journey was. For Naruto, it will be a journey into hell.

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Naruto franchise and the characters associated with it. Also I do not own any part of the 14th century Italian divine comedy Dante's Inferno.

"talking"

_thoughts _

* * *

Upon the setting of the sun a young man of sixteen years of age was returning from his mission from the land of waves. This blond man sporting his usual orange and black outfit was not too pleased about the troublesome mission he had to undertake. With him on his mission were Sakura and Sai, although they weren't needed it was still nice to have company. As time rode by it soon became dark.

"Naruto, let's stop and make camp here for now" said Sakura still trailing behind Naruto as they leapt from tree to tree

"I agree, it would be wise to stop for now" said Sai also trailing behind Naruto

Naruto being annoyed at the complaints of his teammates consented to rest for now. "Man, you guys really have such low stamina" said Naruto as he came to a stop on one of the trees while sporting one of his usual grins.

"No, you're just a stamina freak" said Sakura as she gave Naruto a glare placing her hands on her hips.

Naruto laughed at this comment, but then . . . .

"Get out of the way!" called Sai as he grabbed both Naruto and Sakura pulling them off the tree. Just moments later an explosion occurred right at the spot they were standing.

"_Explosive tags!_" thought Naruto as the three compatriots found their way onto the solid ground below. But as they landed they were soon surrounded by an enemy ninja force on all sides.

"Isn't this a bit excessive?" said Sakura surveying the situation. "I mean this was such a low class mission to begin with"

"Well Naruto-kun did make quite a lot of them angry with the stunt he pulled" said Sai calmly with his usual expressionless smile

"Well it's their fault for being dumb enough to fall for some easy tricks" complained Naruto cocking one of his eye brows while folding his arms behind his head. "But anyways this doesn't seem like a hard fight, so let's get this over with so we can get some dinner"

At that statement the fighting began. Now although the number advantage was not in team Naruto favor it was still more or a less a battle of quantity versus quality. For not so long into the fight over half of the enemy forces were already defeated. Now letting this success get to their heads generated a dangerous arrogance with the three Konoha ninjas. For this arrogance would cost them dearly . . . .

"These guys are pretty weak" said Sakura barely even developing any sweat from beating down her recent opponent.

"Indeed" agreed Sai as he was drawing a bunch an ink summoned creatures to deal with the threat before him

Naruto laughed a bit since he was still having a good time with this fight. But then something caught his eye in the forest as a glimmer shined within it. As he focused his eyes he spotted several archers taking sniping positions several meters away.

"Sakura! Watch out!" yelled Naruto

"Huh?" was all she could say as many arrows raced towards her at amazing speed. Sakura unable to completely avoid the arrows braced herself for impact.

"Sakura!" yelled Naruto as he ran in front of her with his kunai drawn

But although he managed to parry most of the arrows away some of them still got through. As Naruto slowed down to analyze himself he found that three arrows had pierced his chest in some vital areas. However, ignoring it for now he threw several kunai in the direction of the snipers taking out the threat.

At that final act Naruto slumped down to his knees as the world began to turn darker, and just before his mind went black that last thing he heard was Sakura shrieking his name.

* * *

Naruto then reopened his eyes and stood up to see that everything around him was all but completely darkness. It appeared he was in some sort of forest, but it was far too dark to simply be nighttime. He then looked at himself to see blood stains on his body from where the arrows had pierced him. It then hit him like a ton bricks about what this all meant.

"So I guess I'm dead" half-chuckled Naruto. "At least I thought would be Hokage before I died . . . . But I guess I had a good run at life" he then said but with a sadder tone.

"Uzumaki Naruto" howled a voice

Naruto immediately got into defensive stance searching for the owner of the voice. "Who's there?!"

As to answer his question, an entity in dark clothing with an undistinguishable face appeared before him. "I am to you mortals known as a shinigami" the entity replied

Naruto then gave the shinigami a serious glare. "Are you here to take me to the other side?"

The shinigami paused for a moment before answering. "No, for an arrangement has already been made"

"Arrangement?" asked Naruto

"Naruto-kun . . . ."

Naruto then immediately turned around to see Hinata standing behind him but naked as well as eerily glowing a strange light.

"Whoa, Hinata what's going on? And what are you doing here?" asked Naruto nervously as he covered his eyes while facing Hinata.

Hinata noticing his actions slightly blushed while covering herself with her arms before answering his questions. "Naruto-kun . . . . I don't have much time left, but know that at least I was happy to see you for this final time" Hinata smiled sadly

The young man then looked to the sad pale girl with a questioning look. "Hinata, what are you talking about? What's going on?" asked Naruto with rising concern

"Good-bye Naruto-kun" said Hinata as tears came falling from her eyes. At that statement a great darkness engulfed Hinata as she vanished before him into a gate that appeared out of nowhere behind the shinigami.

"Hinata!!!" screamed Naruto as he raced towards the gate only to be stopped by the death god

"You are not allowed to go past this point until your time" said the shinigami calmly

"Get the hell out my way! I need to save Hinata!" yelled Naruto still trying to get past

"Do not waste your time mortal. For you are already returning to the land of the living." The shinigami said

"What?!" Naruto exclaimed before he blacked out again

* * *

Naruto opened his eyes to quickly sit up and take a deep breath in.

"Thank goodness you're OK. I managed to patch up your wounds in time before it became too serious"

The young ninja turned to see Sakura looking at him with relief on her face

"You gave us a good scare for a while there" said Sai

Naruto looked around to see he was still in the forest where they were attacked and it was more or less morning at the moment. He then thought about the image he just had about Hinata and got a really bad feeling about it.

"We need to get back to Konoha now" said Naruto standing up fixing himself for a run back

"Naruto! You just survived an arrow being lodged into your gut. I think you should rest for a while until your body is back to normal." Said Sakura

"There's no time! I need to get to Konoha now!" yelled Naruto as he made a full out sprint towards his home village.

"Wait! Naruto!" called Sakura as she got up and ran after him to which soon Sai went running as well.

An hour passed before Naruto and crew arrived at the gates of Konoha. But Naruto didn't bother to wait for the guards to sign him in as he simply just ran right past them. "_Hinata, please be alright_!" were the thoughts that raced through his mind as he ran at full sprint to the Hyuga estate. Then a few moments later he finally arrived to the front gate to which he was greeted with a familiar face.

"Neji! Where is Hinata?! I need to see her!" said Naruto frantically

"Unfortunately Naruto-kun . . . ." Neji said with a pause. "Hinata-sama has fallen into an unexplained illness and can't be seen right now" said Neji looking a bit depressed.

Naruto then felt a sinking feeling in his gut at that news. "Neji, when did this happen?"

Neji then looked to Naruto. "This incident had just transpired late last night. Her illness at this point in time is still under investigation."

This confirmed something bad definitely happened to Hinata. Plus whatever was happening had to do something with the arrangement that death was talking about.

"_Hinata, what did you do?_" thought Naruto. He then looked to Neji once again. "Please take me to see her"

Neji hesitated to follow this request. But he could not deny the person that Hinata deeply cared for and not to mention someone he owed. So he then guided the blond teen to the Konoha hospital to where Hinata was being treated. As they arrived, Naruto saw Tsunade and Hiashi talking about something. But upon their entrance Hiashi gave his respect to the Hokage and left. Naruto didn't like the feel of Hiashi at times. For his presence alone seemed to hurt Hinata. But that wasn't important now as he turned to face Tsunade for answers.

"Obaasan, please tell me what happened to Hinata?!" Naruto demanded

Tsunade faced Naruto and gave him a serious look. "Go to my office now, we will discuss the details there" and that was all she said as she turned her attention back to the sleeping girl.

Naruto and Neji then made their way to the Hokage office to which they were met with the old rookie nine, team Gai, and Kakashi. Soon after Tsunade entered the room to which she took her place at her desk. She then folded her hands in front of her face while closing her eyes in order to organize her thoughts. Tsunade then reopened her eyes to begin her talk.

"Since evening last night Hyuga Hinata has entered a coma like state to which there were no explanations for. But apparently her life signs are getting weaker by the hour and within a span of a few days she'll die."

At that news everyone received a chill of sadness and shock at what was going to happen. But before any questions could come up, Tsunade continued her speech.

"Furthermore after investigation we ruled out any possibility it could be some sort of virus, bacteria, ninjutsu, or genjutsu attack. But we did discover a strange scroll which had a blood seal on it. Accordingly the blood was Hinata and the scroll seemed to be of an ancient variety. Now the scroll in question seems to be a contract which promises the one who signs it any wish they desire. Now the validity of it is rather shaky since testing it is out of the question."

Sakura then interrupted Tsunade explanation with a question. "Hold on! A wish seems too good to be true. There has to be a catch behind it."

Tsunade nodded to her apprentice's observation. "You're right Sakura, there is a price as well as the fact to why we can't test the validity of the contract. For the one who grants the wish is some unknown summoning whose name have been lost in time, and the price it asks for in return is . . . . the user's soul"

"_Your soul!_" thought Naruto as he flashbacked to that moment in the darkness

"Obaasan! I think I might know something!" said Naruto as he recounted the moment he died with the events of the arrangement as well as Hinata presence being there. With this new information things became clearer.

"Hmm, it seems there is some truth behind this contract, and whatever Hinata wished for resulted in her soul being taken as payment. But by these facts it seems Hinata wish most likely had something to do with Naruto revival" Tsunade said analytically

Naruto then felt a gaping hole in his gut. For it was most likely that Hinata wished for his life to be saved even knowing it was going to cost her own. He then felt it breaking him inside how Hinata had sacrificed so much just for him.

"But Hokage-sama, there has to be something we can do!" stated Kiba feeling the weight of the situation.

Tsunade hesitated for a moment before continuing again. "There might be something we can do to save her"

Immediately everyone's ears perked up to hear what the plan was.

"We are going to attempt a dangerous plan which requires us to cross the boundaries of existence into the world of the dead. Kakashi will further address the matter."

On cue, Kakashi picked up where Tsunade left off. "It seems whatever was summoned came from the underworld, and by theory using a reverse summoning jutsu should get us to the location where they arrived too." Kakashi then took a breather before continuing. "Furthermore I'll have to be the one to send you there since there is no one on the other side to take you which requires me to use the jutsu in conjunction with my Mangekyo Sharingan. Also I can only send at most a small team of people since the trip back and forth will completely exhaust my chakra. But it will take some time to prepare the transport, so it is advised to come prepared for we don't know what to expect when you get there."

After Kakashi finished his explanation Tsunade gave the final piece of information. "This mission will be deemed an S-class for the dangers you'll encounter. It is also imperative that Naruto be active in this mission"

At hearing this Naruto did not need to be told twice what he had to do. For he did not care what he would encounter or the obstacles he had to face. He only knew that someone he cared for is suffering because of him and he needs to do something about it.

"It would be foolish of me to let you go on this mission due to the emotions playing on this, but you would have most likely disobeyed me and gone anyways." Tsunade gave a slight grin at this statement. "Naruto, you're are to gather a team of people you trust as well as skills you need because whatever is down there you're going to need all the help you can get." But she then gave the grim news. "Unfortunately most of the village ninjas are out on missions. So whoever is left to assist has all been assembled into this room."

At the end of that, Naruto already had the people in mind to who he wanted to take with him. For right off the bat he wanted to take the entire rookie nine with him along with the members of team Gai. Since they were all in the room he asked them to come along.

"Man oh man, a trip literally into hell" Kiba said sourly. "But to save Hinata I'll gladly do it" said Kiba with vigor

Shino, Chouji, and Sai simply nodded to Naruto request

"I'm on board because you're going to need a medic right" said Sakura

"And you can't completely depend on forehead girl as the medic. So I'll come along as well" Ino smiled

"There won't be any trouble from my end. For Hinata-sama is someone I wish to save as well. I believe my old teammates will not object to wishing to help." replied Neji even though it seemed obvious he would have come along without even needing to be asked. Ten-ten agreed with Neji since she was like an elder sister to Hinata and couldn't leave things as they were.

"This will be a great training opportunity. So of course I'll go" stated Lee in his usual overwhelming spirit.

"This is going to be rather troublesome, but we can't leave a teammate behind right. I'm in" replied Shikamaru

"Alright, we'll all get back to Kakashi-sensei in two hours. So let's get prepped for the trip ahead." said Naruto

With that everyone departed to make preparation for whatever they may face in hell.

But before Naruto went to do anything else there was one thing he felt he had to do and that was going to the Konoha hospital for a visit.

As Naruto entered Hinata room he then took a seat right next to the Hyuga heiress's bed. He then sat for a while before deciding to speak.

"Hinata . . . . I'm so sorry this had to happen to you. If only I were more careful with my life you wouldn't be in this state." said Naruto with a sad tone

"And I know things have been awkward between us since you confessed to me and I've been kind of delaying my reply to you, and I know I've hurt you with my indecisiveness when it took so much of your courage just to tell me how you felt." he then took Hinata hand into his own. "But I swear on my ninja way that I will bring you back and then I'll give you my answer!"

Naruto soon after left the room, but if he had stayed a bit a longer a single tear would have been seen leaving the eyes of the comatose Hyuga Hinata.

* * *

Author's notes: I hope this chapter was good to read and I hope this turns out to be something interesting. But yeah Naruto and gang are going to take a trip through hell in order to save Hinata soul and bring her back to life. Well I hope to get the next chapter up as soon as possible.

So I thank you for your time in reading this fic and further extend my gratitude if you can review it as well.


	2. Limbo

Chapter 2: First Circle – Limbo

Synopsis: The Naruto gang now makes their decent into hell. But entering hell may not be as easy as it seems for death will stand in their way. However odd enough, why would death be so compliant to allow them entrance?

Now as they enter the first circle they shall encounter purgatory where souls are judged to be sent to certain depths of hell. But the first challenge they must face to rescue Hinata is the entity that sends these soul to their place. For this entity and first powerful enemy is none other than the judge magistrate of hell . . . . Yama.

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Naruto franchise or characters associated with it. I also do not own any part of the 14th century Italian divine comedy Dante's Inferno.

"talking"

_thoughts_

* * *

Two hours passed quickly as the rookie nine and team Gai met up with Kakashi and Tsunade in the open courtyard outside the Hokage main office. The team came with every item imaginable from simple provisions to heavy artillery. As they were going through their resources, something peculiar caught the team's eyes.

"Kiba, what's with the holy crosses, stakes, and garlic?" asked Ino curiously

"We're going to hell right? So we have to be well prepared for things like vampires, werewolves, and stuff!" said Kiba

Everyone simultaneously sweat dropped at that statement. Heck, even Naruto thought that was kind of dumb of him.

"_He really needs to lay off the horror films_" was the groups unanimous thought. Kakashi then coughed to gain the groups attention. "If everyone has their things in order then let us be off" said Kakashi and at that statement everyone gave a simple nod to confirm that they will never be as ready as they are now. "Good, then let us begin" and at that Kakashi began his complicated hand seal configuration to open the way to hell.

"Listen up everyone, be safe down there and come back alive. That is the Hokages order to you all" said Tsunade with both a serious and concern tone.

"Don't worry obaasan, we'll all make it back alive with Hinata in tow" Naruto replied with his usual confidence

"We're about ready to leave" called Kakashi whose mangekyo sharingan started to form in preparation for the border jump. At that point a loud humming sound was heard along with a giant bubble of light being formed around them.

"Alright, let's do this!" said Naruto as he slammed his fist into his palm.

"Naruto-san!" a loud voice called

Naruto then turned around to see someone he didn't quite expect to see at all. For there stood Hiashi who seemed a bit winded as if he was running marathon and had just finished while doing it without rest. But soon enough he composed himself to speak.

"I am aware that I'm not the greatest father around, but know that I do care for my daughter as a father should. So Naruto-san, please bring my daughter back safely." Hiashi said in his usual stoic demeanor although it did give a hint of pleading behind it.

Naruto and co. looked to Hiashi in shock for they would never in a hundred years expect a Hyuga like him to be asking like that. But Naruto immediately shook it off and then gave Hiashi his trademark smile while extending his arm for a thumb up to which he gave his trademark quote.

"You better believe it" and soon after the rescue team disappeared to the other world without trace.

"Good luck" said Hiashi

"And may kami watch over you" said Tsunade

* * *

Within the dark void of the forest a sphere of light appeared to which Naruto and co. were now standing in the spot where Hinata soul was previously summoned to. However upon arrival Kakashi collapsed, but was caught by Sakura before completely going down.

"Are you okay Kakashi-sensei?" asked Sakura

Kakashi signed a bit before answering. "I'm okay, I just used half of my chakra in that instant. But give me a moment and I'll be fine." A moment later he recomposed himself followed by shutting down his sharingan. "It seems I won't be able to assist any further on this mission"

"What do you mean Kakashi-sensei?!" asked Naruto

But before Kakashi could answer, Shikamaru interjected. "He's right Naruto, it would be wise for us to leave Kakashi here"

"But why?" asked Naruto

"Yeah! Do you realize where we're going?! We need all the help we can get!" added in Kiba

Shikamaru being the one who easily gets annoyed then explained the reason why. "Aside the fact that Kakashi-sensei had depleted most of his chakra it is important that nothing happens to him on this mission for he is our only way back. Furthermore he needs to conserve his chakra in order for us to return home. Does everyone understand?" Although the question was more directed to the slower thinkers (yeah, they know who they are.)

At that Kakashi stood in place resting his hands in his pockets. "_Do your best_" was the thought that came to Kakashi mind as the rest of the rescue team began to depart. But after a small distance of walking, a shinigami and gate appeared in front of Naruto and co. which surprised them, but they more or less kept their cool. Naruto, who recognized the shinigami gave it an intense glare.

"Are you going to try and stop us?" asked Naruto in a low voice

The shinigami then looked to the group and answered. " . . . . no, you may pass if you wish"

Now the common thought amongst the group was "_huh?_" For according to Naruto earlier story the shinigami would not allow him to pass regardless of any reason. But the thought now was why was this death god allowing them passage so easily?

Ino then got a strange feeling and decided to investigate it. Meanwhile chatter occurred amongst the group.

"This seems too easy" Shino said

"I agree, do you feel this is a trap?" asked Sai

"I do not believe so for what tactical advantage could the enemy have on us at this point in time" said Neji

"But the shinigami is letting us in way too easily and that doesn't seem right" Sai retorted

Shikamaru thought for a moment before speaking up. "I also don't believe it to be a trap, but it does seem too easy that we are being allowed in especially with the fact we are still alive"

Now Chouji during this time just simply opened a bag of chips and ate while Ten-ten and Sakura waited silently for the boys to finish squabbling. Naruto then jumped into the conversation.

"Who the hell cares! We'll just beat the crap out of anything that comes our way!" said Naruto while pumping his fist

"I'm with Naruto, for with the fiery passions of youth we will overcome anything!" Lee said with flames appearing in his eyes

"Can we just decide whether or not this is a trap or not?" said Kiba

And at that the boys continued to argue amongst themselves until Ino finally finished her analysis

"It's genjutsu" she said

Everyone then turned to look at Ino with a "what" expression on their faces. At that reaction Ino then gave the team her analysis of what she learned.

"I'm not 100% on this, but it seems that shinigami-san is under some form of reverse reasoning genjutsu which makes it do the opposite action to what it would do normally." said Ino

"Wait a minute, who could possibly place a death god under a genjutsu like that?" asked Kiba

"I don't know, but whoever it was their genjutsu technique must be pretty incredible to do that" Ino answered

"Wow, that was a pretty awesome analysis Ino" said Chouji at the moment he finished his chips

Ino gave a half laugh while displaying a semi-sexy pose. "Just goes to show you I'm more useful then forehead girl" smiled Ino. Sakura immediately gave a scowl at that remark

Naruto then came to a realization. "Then does this mean someone came here before us?"

Everyone then looked to Naruto in unison thought of that statement.

"With things as they are it seems most likely the case" said Shikamaru. "But at this point it doesn't matter too much since whoever did it got rid of our first obstacle. But we should be wary since whoever did it must be pretty powerful. Plus we don't know their intentions; however it is most likely we'll be bumping into the one who did this sooner or later"

With that everyone nodded in unison with Shikamaru take on the situation. Afterwards they all proceeded to the gate to which it opened upon their presence. As they entered one by one Sai was the last to enter the gate.

"Be wary travelers for although I will open the gate upon your return there is a reason to why souls can't ascend the circles of hell. But you will discover this shortly on your journey" said shinigami before it faded away.

Sai didn't understand what that meant, but he didn't like the feel of it either. Though he knew they were going to find out soon enough. He then entered the gate to which it closed behind him and faded away until the time the group was ready to return.

* * *

Now as the team entered the gate they were met with a rather . . . . interesting sight. For in the new world, what they saw was an open field of grass and flowers to which there existed a village which was roughly 8th century Japanese architecture. Now as they looked around they saw there was no sun, but it definitely had a blue and bright sky. As for the inhabitants they seem to be rather . . . . at ease. Now at this point, Naruto and co. was really wondering if this was really hell. In response to this Sakura removed a book from the backpack she brought along. She opened it up to read and after a while turned to the group to explain what was going on.

"According to this, this is limbo" said Sakura

"Limbo?" asked Naruto

"Yes, this is like a top sub-level of hell. Basically this is where good souls go who've done evil acts but not necessarily evil enough to belong in hell" explained Sakura

"How many levels are there?" asked Shino

"If I understand it correctly there should be 9 circles in total including the one we're standing in. Hopefully Hinata soul will be somewhere on this circle" said Sakura

Chouji then looked to Sakura with awe on his face. "Amazing interpretation Sakura"

Sakura then gave a sly smile while holding up a V gesture. "See, I can be more useful then Ino-pig at times." Ino then gave a sour look for the comment.

"Anyways! Do you know any more information than that?" asked Shikamaru

Sakura then looked down in disappointment. "Unfortunately no, the book doesn't specify anything further"

Ino gave a rebuttal glee at Sakura expense while Shikamaru simply sighed at how complicated things were getting.

"Alright we'll split up temporarily to gather information around the village. We will all meet up in the center of the village in thirty minutes" said Shikamaru

With that the group dispersed throughout the village asking questions if they had seen Hinata anywhere at all. Unfortunately most of the souls they asked either didn't know much or refused to answer altogether. Then soon the half hour mark came as everyone reconvened at the heart of the village next to a giant fountain which was there.

"Did we learn anything new?" asked Naruto anxiously. But in response everyone shook their heads. These made Naruto feel a bit dishearten that rescuing Hinata was going to take longer then he wanted. But then Naruto felt something tug at his sleeve. He then looked to the source to see a strange black haired little boy still tugging at him. Naruto looked at him curiously.

"Hey kid, what are you doing?" asked Naruto

"Ahh, I thought it was you. But why are you here Naruto-kun? . . . .Wait! Don't tell me you died?!" the weird boy said

Naruto looked to the boy with some shock. "How do you know me?"At this point the entire group was curious to who this boy was and how he knew Naruto.

"Just look and you'll know who I am" said the weird boy

Naruto then gave the kid a hard look and then he saw something that he couldn't miss. For his eyes seemed to have multiple rings on them. Plus the fact the hair style he had as well as his voice seemed extremely familiar.

"Nagato?" asked Naruto cautiously

"Indeed" Nagato smiled. Naruto went back in shock at the appearance of one of the strongest ninjas he knew being a kid.

"Why are you a kid?" asked Naruto

"Who knows, but I do know I can make my wrongs right here. So whatever the reason is fine with me" said Nagato. At this statement the group was looking at Nagato in a joking manner that this once feared ninja who was known as the master of the six paths was nothing more than a child.

Nagato then looked to Naruto seriously. "So why are you here? You don't seem to be dead nor are your friends."

Naruto then returned the serious look. "Something bad happened to an important friend of mine and I've come here to take her back." Naruto paused for a moment. "Nagato, she should have come here recently. Have you seen anything new around here?"

Nagato looked to Naruto and the rest of the group before looking back to him. "The one you are looking for, did she have long black bluish hair and white eyes?"

Everyone in the group immediately lightened up to the prospect of gaining a clue to where Hinata was. But unfortunately the news to come will not be so pleasant.

"Yes! That's her! Do you know where Hinata is?" asked Naruto grabbing Nagato's shoulders

Nagato looked down unable to tell Naruto what he saw. Naruto then felt as if something extremely horrible must have happened to her.

"Naruto, I'm afraid that Hinata is now beyond your reach. For if I saw correctly she was taken by the master of hell thus meaning she must be at the very last circle now . . . . I'm sorry Naruto" said Nagato in a sad tone

At that news everyone now felt how really far Hinata was. Thus despair began to overtake them. But one person would not give in so easily.

"I don't care! If I have to beat the master, the guardian, or the old lady of hell! I will save Hinata and I will bring her home because she is my friend and that was my promise on my ninja way!" declared Naruto

With that speech everyone felt vigor to not give in so soon to the weight of the situation. Even Nagato was shocked at the speech. But he then settled down to speak again.

"You really are the child who will save the world" Nagato said while shutting his eyes. He then soon reopened them. "The place that'll lead to the next circle is down that way, but be careful because that is where Yama resides."

"Yama?" asked Naruto

"Yama is the judge magistrate of hell. He is the one who decides what circle evil souls go to" said Sakura

Nagato nodded, "Be careful he is no pushover from what I understand. Unfortunately I can't help you out much with my current state" Nagato said noting his current form.

Shikamaru then walked up to Nagato wanting to ask a question "By any chance did you see another living person pass through here?"

Nagato looked up to Shikamaru "No, but I did sense something and whatever it was it was evil. So be careful to whoever it is"

"OK" Naruto said. He then looked back at all his friends. "Come on let's get going." The team then began their run towards the indicated destination given. But before they gotten far enough Nagato called out once more to them.

"Good luck Naruto, you'll definitely save her" he said as he waved to them

Naruto looked back to wave. "Thanks sempai" and soon the group disappeared into the distance.

Nagato then felt a bit awkward "_sempai? That seemed kind of weird_"

* * *

As the team wondered onwards the sky started to become darker until it seemed like nighttime to which it soon became complimented with the occasional lightning. The surrounding were also beginning to change for any structures that were around were more like debris and ruins that seemed to have been through war. The grass and the flowers which once looked lively were now dead and soon replaced with cold dark stone paths. After a short time of walking a loud thunderous voice could be heard.

"Guilty! To the third circle for you!" and at that a scream was heard and faded with association to how one would sound like during a free fall.

Soon the group was now standing in the hellish version of a court room which was composed of black stones, chains, blood, and many flames. There in the center of the court was Yama who sat at his desk with his gabble overlooking the chambers. But what really caught their eyes was how huge he was.

"Who dares enter my court unannounced!" roared Yama

Naruto stood forward to answer the question "Naruto Uzumaki! We have come here to take Hinata back!" he yelled

"Hinata Hyuga you say! HA HA HA HA HA! You must truly be fools to think you can rescue her!" laughed Yama

Naruto was then feeling pissed at this point. "You are going to allow us passage into the next circle!"

"You dare command the judge magistrate! You are not getting past me without my judgment of your souls!" said Yama

At this point Neji who was feeling impatient left the group proceeding to jump onto the huge desk to strike at Yama with all he had.

"Eight Trigrams Empty Palm!" called Neji as he shot his attack at the heart area of Yama. Now the judge did flinch at the attack. But apparently it pissed him off more. Yama then waved his arm whacking Neji off his desk like a bug. Soon the desk and chair disappeared to which now Yama stood before them.

"You dare strike at the judge magistrate! That in itself is a guilty act! I sentence you all to death!" called Yama

"I think you really pissed him off Neji-kun" said Tenten with a sweat drop

"We don't have time for this nonsense" said Neji . "We have more important matters to attend too"

At this the fighting began. The first to come up was Sakura. She raced at top speed jumping to equal height of Yama face ready to bash his face in. But she was then caught in mid air only to be thrown at Sai, Kiba, and Shino standing in that particular direction. Next came the Ino-Shika-Cho combo which started with Shikamaru shadow imitation technique.

"_God this guy is freaking huge!_" Shikamaru thought

Yama then found himself in a genjutsu technique courtesy of Ino. "Chouji! Now!"

At that command Shikamaru released his technique which was followed with Chouji human bullet tank technique aimed at the judges stomach. But this also failed to do much to the giant as he swept his arm blowing the three to nearby walls. Next came team Gai. For Neji and Lee ran up to Yama shoulders and aimed to disable both his arms. Meanwhile Tenten jumped high up pulling out a summoning scroll full of exploding kunai. Neji and Lee aimed for the main joints temporarily paralyzing Yama arms to which Ten-ten followed with her barrage attack. The three ninjas then jumped back from the smog believing the attack was successful. But the victory was short lived as Yama reappeared slamming his hand down on the Konoha ninjas knocking them half out. Soon Yama summoned his gabble ready to finish off the mortal pest.

"Hey ugly! Over here!" called Naruto with a prepared rasengan in his hand

Yama took notice of the comment and swung his hammer down hard at Naruto. In the instant Naruto was hit he puffed out of existence revealing two more standing on opposite sides of Yama wrist. In that moment both Naruto struck his wrist with rasengan forcing the judge to release his hammer. Yama then yelped in pain but then slammed his other hand down smacking both Naruto's. Upon clearing his hand there laid Naruto half out it from the impact. Yama then picked his gabble up.

"You have caused me enough trouble! Now die mortals!" roared Yama as he swung his gabble down upon Naruto. But inches from crushing Naruto it stopped. "What?!"

Slowly the gabble was being lifted and under it Naruto's sage eyes peered right at Yama's. He then ripped it right out of the judges hand surprising the hell out of Yama at how unnaturally strong the boy was. But due to his carelessness the Konoha ninjas began their counter attack. Sakura using her legendary strength and Chouji with his multi-size technique attacked Yama calves weaking his balance. Next came Sai giant bull ink drawing ramming into Yama gut which was then followed by a triple assault from Lee dynamic entry, Kiba and Akamaru dual piercing fang, and Shino insect cyclone. As soon as Yama was on his back Neji unleashed his Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms in mid air sealing off whatever power Yama tried to conjure up. Next Ino using genjutsu, Shikamaru using shadow neck bind, and Ten-ten using giant metal rods then sealed Yama ability to use his body. Finally came Naruto to finish the job with a giant rasengan hitting the same place Sai, Kiba, Shino, and Lee had just hit earlier, and with that the battle was finished. From there Ino and Sakura began healing the injuries their friends.

"Phew, that battle was tougher then I thought" said Naruto turning back to normal while standing on Yama chest

"Yeah, I didn't think this battle would be that hard" said Ino healing the last injuries on Chouji

"Think we bit off more than we can chew?" asked Kiba

"We'll be fine" said Shino reassuringly

"Naruto, did you just use sage mode?" asked Sakura while still working on Lee's injuries

"Yeah" said Naruto

"How many do you have left?" then asked Sakura

"Two . . . . heh , I didn't expect to use sage mode this early in the mission. But I guess it couldn't be helped" said Naruto as he jumped off Yama. Now as Naruto landed on the ground a low rumble occurred revealing the gate to the next circle

"Alright there it is! Let's go to the next floor!" called Naruto to which soon everyone was ready to mobilize again, and one by one as they crossed the gate only Sai was the last one still in the chambers. But soon as his foot reached the entrance the gate began to close. The group then looked back to see the gate closing behind them while hearing the load laughter of Yama.

"Fools! Those who transcend the circles of hell will never be able to return!" Yama laughed out

"Just as I thought" said Sai as he formed a few hand seals using the remaining ink on Yama body to create an intricate tattoo pattern forcing him to act at his puppet. With that he had Yama grab the gates before it completely closed and slowly forcing it opened, and with that had the honored judge stand in the door way keeping it open.

"How dare you dishonor the judge magistrate of hell!" exclaimed Yama

"Awesome Sai" called Ino

Sai gave his usual smile. "Thank you, but unfortunately now I can't move from here"

"What do you mean?" asked Ino

"I finally understood what the shinigami said and along with what Yama said it filled in the blanks, but now I have to stay here to maintain the jutsu and keep Yama holding the gate open so you can all return later" said Sai

"How dare you!" yelled Yama, but then the ink tattoo went over his mouth

"Quiet now" smiled Sai

"Sai, what is going on?" said Naruto

"I learned that the gates were meant to close eternally on those who cross thus keeping the soul from ever ascending the circles and it will most likely be the same as you go further." Sai said

"Ah dam" said Shikamaru "So that means not only do we have to fight our way down but in each circle we have to leave a member behind to keep the gate open"

"That is correct Shikamaru-kun" smiled Sai

"But we can't just leave you here" said Lee

"Don't worry, my chakra will hold out. But you must all go now for time is of the essence" said the stoic ninja

"But Sai . . . ." said Naruto

"You all must go now! I can't hold him here forever!" said Sai

Naruto cringed but then turned around guiding everyone to the next circle. "Don't worry Sai, we'll be back soon" and with that the remaining group entered the next circle of hell.

"Hurry back Naruto-kun" said Sai as he waved his friends good-bye for possibly the last time.

* * *

Author's notes: I hope this chapter made some relative sense. But yeah I'm planning for the cast to meet old villains as they descend deeper into hell. Also as the mission goes a member must stay behind in order to maintain the way out of each circle. So things are definitely going to get difficult.

So I thank you for your time in reading this fic and further extend my gratitude if you can review it as well.


	3. Lust

Chapter 3: Second Circle – Lust

Synopsis: Now as they make their decent into lust, the team or rather Naruto and Sakura will come upon a familiar face of the past. But will this said person be either an ally or a hindrance to the rescue operation?

But as they get further down into the next, what friend must Naruto leave behind to keep the gates of lust open?

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Naruto franchise or characters associated with it. I also do not own any part of the 14th century Italian divine comedy Dante's Inferno.

"talking"

_thoughts_

* * *

~9th Circle – Treachery~

Within the very bottom of hell is a circle where the most evil souls are said to reside. The 9th circle is place devoid of warmth and light upon where it is only awarded to those fitting to the crime of treachery to be punished for all time.

But within this cold dark circle exists one soul whose light and warmth cuts through the void of the hellish place. That soul belongs to none other than Hinata Hyuga, and although her soul doesn't belong there it is unable to leave. Any soul that could still see within the void saw Hinata was bound by chains which anchored her arms, legs, and body on the very spot she stood on. Of course attempts were made to break the bonds, but the more she struggled the tighter and more painful the chains became. So now after her latest attempt to break free, Hinata decided to sit for a while to recover. Although she was just a soul the cold was definitely getting to her. But even in these harsh conditions Hinata reflected on the happier times of her life with friends, family during certain times, and more specifically the man she paid with her soul to protect. At this thought, Hinata thought about the chain of events from the very beginning which led up to now.

* * *

~flashback (11 years ago) ~

At the tender age of five, Hinata stood within the bedroom of her parents looking at an amazing sight. For her mother was currently pregnant with her soon to be little sister Hanabi. But unknown to the little girl her mother had something important to give her.

"Hinata" Hinata's mother called

"Yes okaasan?" asked Hinata

Hinata's mother looked down at the girl who looked back with a curious look on her face. "This is something I want you to have" she said as she handed a peculiar scroll to the young child.

"What it is okaasan?" then asked Hinata as she stared at the object within her hands

"This is a special scroll passed down the main Hyuga branch from mother to daughter" she replied. "This scroll has the power to perform miracles beyond ones wildest imaginations" she smiled

"Can I see what's inside it okaasan?" Hinata asked as she attempted to unbind the seal which kept the scroll closed.

But immediately Hinata's mother clasped her hands stopping her progress in the matter. "No Hinata, for this scroll must only be opened in times of need. Do you understand?"

At that question the young Hinata nodded to her mother with a smile on her face. "I understand okaasan"

Hinata's mother returned her smile. "Very good Hinata, but remember even miracles have rules to them. So that is something you must remember OK Hinata-chan" her mother smiled

"OK" smiled Hinata

After some months later Hanabi was born, but at a sorrowful cost. During child labor her mother had died bringing her little sister into the world. Of course Hinata grieved heavily at the loss of her mother and using the scroll which could grant miracles was something that would be very appealing to anyone in her position. But an unfortunate fact was one of the rules which governed the function of the scroll. For once that particular person has died; making a wish for their revival after their death would prove fruitless. With that fact she cursed the scroll on how powerless it was to bring her mother back to her.

Now eleven years later with Hinata sixteen years of age, there was a wish she wanted to have granted. After Pein's attack on the village which left it in ruins, she could only feel how helpless she was to protect Naruto when he needed it most when Pein had him completely pinned down. So after the village was finished being rebuilt courtesy of Yamato, Hinata decided to unbind the scroll and make her wish. Now upon revealing its content it seemed to be a summoning contract scroll, but not quite at the same time. So following the basic instructions she signed her name in blood and with a few hands signs she made her wish which was the most characteristic to her personality.

"I wish for Naruto-kun safety for all time" said Hinata before the scroll. After a short passage of time nothing seemed to have happened which at first made kunoichi think she did something wrong. But soon a voice which Hinata could only hear responded back.

"Your wish has been heard" said the ominous voice

Hinata to say the least was scared at the response. For whoever said it had a vibe to them which echoed a coldness which could scare even the toughest of shinobi. But it mattered not, for so long as her wish was granted nothing really mattered in the end to her.

~end flashback~

* * *

Now back to her current predicament, Hinata felt no regret or remorse for her decision. For Naruto was everything to her and as she had declared before her love himself she was not afraid to die for him.

* * *

~2nd Circle – Lust~

As the rescue team descended into the 2nd circle, a weird ominous feeling began to tighten in Naruto stomach.

"_That's strange, why do I feel so weird?_" thought Naruto, but for the moment he decided to ignore the feeling and continue on with the mission.

Meanwhile Shikamaru was giving some considerable thought to the current situation and how to approach it. So thus he decided to stop the group for the moment to speak his mind.

"Listen everyone, we're not so sure what we are going to run into on each level and it is most likely we'll have to face a guardian on each circle. So we need to start being more conservative with our chakra concerning them" said Shikamaru

"So what are you thinking?" asked Choji

Shikamaru hesitated for a moment before speaking again. "We need to reform the team for higher efficiency in which we have our main fighter for each circle while the rest of us acts as support"

"Are you kidding! We already had trouble enough fighting Yama together. So fighting them as individuals would be like suicide" said Kiba

"I agree, it would be better if we fight together as a team" then said Ino

"If we stick together we should pull through fine enough" said Lee

"I know that! But the way things are now we need to keep ourselves as fresh as possible because the way I see it things are going to get far more worse before they get any better" retorted Shikamaru

Neji and Shino knew he had a point and decided not to say anymore on the matter. Naruto, Sakura and Tenten couldn't really argue the point either since it was relatively the right idea to keep the ones going further down as fresh as possible for the tougher fights up ahead.

"So who is going to stay on this circle then?" asked Naruto

"Well it depends on the kind of guardian we're going to face. For each of us are better equipped in skill or experience when dealing with certain situations. So until we know more about the guardian here we won't know for sure" explained Shikamaru. He then looked to Sakura for any additional information.

"Unfortunately there is not much to go by. The texts information on each circle is sketchy at best" said Sakura

"So we won't know much until we're face to face with them practically huh" said Naruto

"Indeed" stoically stated Shino

With that the conversation came to an end. The group began their decent again until a little while later they eventually found themselves within the 2nd circle of hell. As they walked further in the group was amazed at how different this place was in comparison to the last circle they were in. First off they noticed how huge the gate was that led into the next circle since one would have to be blind not to see it was right there. But now for scenery, it was completely far removed from what purgatory was like. The area around them looked like a barren wasteland with absolutely no sign of plant or wildlife. Aside from that, there seemed to be a near infinite amount of souls wondering all around them screaming out names here and there. Although they were the most animated things in the area, the second most animated thing was the tornados going around. Especially the one coming right at them . . . . wait! A tornado!

Without a second moment to think the tornado was right on top of them which engulfed the entire team into the cyclone. Naruto wasting no time created multiple shadow clones in order to keep everyone together, but to no avail the currents overwhelmed the clones from reaching each other and before anyone knew what had happened they were all scattered into the winds within the different areas of lust.

* * *

"Oh, what happened?" asked Naruto as he stood up rubbing his head from the impact he had just endured from the fall.

"It seems that tornado sent all of us flying into different directions" answered Naruto clone 1

"It would also seem that we are here by ourselves" then said Naruto clone 2

"Then I should create more clones and find everyone else quickly" said Naruto as he was forming his seal, but then was quickly stopped by both of his clones.

"Don't you remember what Shikamaru said?!" said clone 2. "We need to conserve our chakra for the journey ahead"

Naruto then stopped his actions and stood up in a thinking pose followed by his other two clones. "You're right . . . . hmm so at this point what would Shikamaru do in this situation"

* * *

"Obviously since we're all heading towards the next circle. It would be apparent to just head towards the next gate. Do you got that?" said Shikamaru to one of the clones that landed with his group

"Got it" said the clone as he dissipated from existence relaying the information to every other clone plus the original.

"Will everything be fine like this?" asked Tenten

"As long as our objective is clear we'll rendezvous at the gate. So let us be off" said Shino. Tenten nodded to this assessment as the three ninjas traveled on the wastelands through the storms of lust.

* * *

"So that's the plan huh, alright notify everyone we'll be on our way there now" stated Kiba as the Naruto clone disappeared in order to spread the news.

Kiba then turned to his occupant. "You must be getting worried about Hinata now. I just wish we could hurry up and rescue her"

"Hinata-sama is a strong woman. I know she'll be able to hold on until we arrive" said Neji in his usual tone but with a slight hint of worry behind it.

"Well we better get going then" said Kiba as he climbed on top of Akamaru to begin their journey towards the gate.

* * *

"Alright let's get going on this trip" said Lee enthusiastically as he began to run off towards the gate

"Hey wait!" screamed Ino who was chasing after Lee to make him stay with the group. "Choji! Hurry up or you're going to get left behind!"

Choji who was running the average speed of any other chunnin shinobi was indeed going as fast as he can. "Just make sure not to lose sight of Lee. It's already a bad situation in itself since we've all been split up like this"

* * *

". . . . and that is the current situation as it is now Sakura-chan. All the groups are beginning to make their way towards the gate. So you should get a go on right now" said a Naruto clone. "Hey Sakura-chan, were you listening?"

The said kunoichi at that moment had her back turned to him and seemed to be staring off somewhere.

"Sakura-chan, oi Sakura-chan. What are you doing?" the clone asked

Sakura still remained unresponsive as she stared off to some place until she whispered one word "Sasuke-kun . . . . ".

"What?!" said the clone, but before he could learn anymore something violently forced him to poof out of existence.

* * *

"Did you feel that?!" said Naruto who received a nodding response from his two clones.

"Whatever it was, that wasn't Sasuke" said clone 1

"We need to find Sakura-chan fast" said clone 2

Immediately Naruto and clones began running all over the place searching for their missing and potentially in danger teammate. But soon time seemed to fly by quickly with no sign of the pink haired kunoichi showing up anywhere. Then Naruto came to a conclusion on what he had to do.

"Damn it! I didn't want to use another one so soon" cursed Naruto as he released another one of his clones carrying his sage energy. Upon release his eyes took on the very traits that marked him as a true toad sage. With his change he began to scan the area for everyone location.

"_Hmm, it seems Shikamaru and Neji group are closing in from right behind me. Lee's group will be approaching soon from the 3 o' clock position. But where is Sakura?_" thought Naruto. As if to answer his own question he immediately picked up her chakra signature. "There she is!" but then accompanied with Sakura signature were two other presences. One of them had an intense feeling about it so it had to most likely be the guardian for this level. But the other had something that definitely seemed . . . . familiar? and with further focus . . . . "What is going on?"

* * *

"Sasuke-kun, wait!" yelled Sakura as she pursued the ghostly figure. But the closer she got the further it seemed to get away. But soon the two eventually found themselves in front of the massive gate which would lead them towards the next circle of hell. The ghostly figure then turned around in order to speak to the visibly tired kunoichi.

"Come Sakura, if you can take my hand I might consider going back to Konoha" said the ghostly Sasuke

Sakura who recently regained her composure began walking slowly towards the extended arm that Sasuke offered. Now if anyone could see Sakura in her current state, her eyes were completely glossed over as if she were in a trance of some sort. Slowly she inched her way towards Sasuke convinced that if she were to take his hand she would be able to bring him back to Konoha.

"_Please Sasuke, return to us_" thought Sakura repeatedly as she soon was beginning to reach for his hand. But then . . . .

"Fool! Don't be tricked by your own hearts delusions!"

Then out from the sky, a darkened figure ripped right through the ghostly form of Sasuke with his mighty scythe swinging down cleaving the figure in two easily. Sakura then blinked for a few moments when her consciousness finally began to fill her eyes again.

"Ahh, what was that? For a moment I thought I saw Sasuke, and then blank" said Sakura as she began to rub her head. "That must have been one hell of a genjutsu to get me like that"

She then turned her attention to the dark figure expecting it to be one of her friends, but then was surprised to see who it really was. "Wait, you're . . . ."

"Well it seems you're a glutton for punishment if you've come to face me again" said the now shadowy remains of Sasuke

"Don't patronize me, I'll be sure to take your head off this time guardian of the 2nd circle!" said the dark figure

Then as Sakura began to glimpse up she saw the shadowy remains begin to twist into that of a very feminine looking boy.

"So let us see if you can take my head while being in this form" laughed the 2nd guardian

The dark figure growled at this. "You won't trick me twice with that illusion" the figure said as he began to swing his scythe rapidly as his target. The guardian easily danced around the attacks until it finally assumed its original form. The guardian appeared as an adult woman who seemed to be well dressed in a kimono as well as have exceptionally long hair.

"So you show your true form now" yelled the dark figure as he swung his scythe across in attempt to disembowel his enemy. But the lady easily jumped over the attack as well as her opponent while also noticing an easy target for her to go after. So as she landed, she immediately began her assault on the still recovering kunoichi.

Sakura who was still trying to get her wits about from the hallucinations finally realized who the opponent was. The guardian of the 2nd circle was a harionna. These were demons who had the ability to manipulate their hair into anything they so desire not to mention had a relatively good understanding of demon arts.

But finally Sakura managed to get her motor functions going again as she caught the two large spires of hair that were coming right at her. Upon receiving them, she gave them a firm yank pulling the harionna in at faster velocity to which Sakura shot a firm kick into the monsters face.

"You dare to strike me! The most beautiful being in all the nine circles!" raged the harionna who was rubbing her face from the impact.

Sakura gave the demon a death glare. "I don't only dare to, but I plan on ripping out every last hair follicle on your head by the time I'm done with you" she threatened as she cracked her knuckles in preparation for the fight. For at this point she was pissed at what the demon had done to her.

So as the fight began, she began by punching the ground creating an upheaval which she then followed with a second punch creating multiple projectile rocks. However the demon easily countered this by creating a wall of hair thus nullifying the attack.

"Don't think something as pitiful as that can work on me" smirked the harionna. Then from behind came the scythe attack which was stopped by another hair wall, but with higher difficulty. "Don't forget, you're still fighting me" said the rouge

The battle continued on as such with Sakura throwing punches as well as rock projectiles which managed to hurt the fiend some of the time. As for the rouge, he was no slouch as he was giving the demon an equally or even harder time then Sakura by cutting down her hair defenses which were promptly followed by an immediate strike afterwards. However, a defining point in this fight was when the rouge went for another horizontal slash to which the demon responded by jumping rather high in order to evade but soon to realize her mistake as Sakura was right behind her in the air. At this point, Sakura using her chakra enhanced punch grinded her fist right into the face of the harionna sending it crashing to the very ground below creating not only a crater but a giant dust cloud as well.

"That ought to do it" said Sakura as she landed right next to the rouge. But immediately upon remembering who it was she got back into defensive stance.

"Don't worry, I have no business with you" said the rouge. "But more importantly this fight isn't over yet"

"What" said Sakura as immediately from the rubble erupted a giant dragon made of hair.

"You'll pay for what you have done!" screamed the harionna as her newest creation came throttling at them at full speed. The rouge attempted to intercept but was immediately moved aside as he was hit by a sharp turn made by the serpent. Sakura then planned on destroying the head of the dragon by hitting it full force with every bit of chakra she can squeeze into her fist. But as she began to move she realized she couldn't for as she looked herself over some hairs from the demon were constricting her movements. She then looked up to see the dragon about to engulf her.

"_Damn!_" was all she could think at this point. However in that moment the attack never seem to have come. So as Sakura opened her eyes she then realized she was saved. Naruto and co. had just arrived in time to stop the dragon from making her into a quick meal. Naruto had stopped the dragons advance by wrestling it down by its teeth, Lee attacked the demon directly breaking the concentration it had on Sakura movements, Kiba made quick work on the dragon by severing the main body which connected it to its master, and everyone else just secured Sakura by pulling her out of there.

"So you guys finally came to the party" Sakura said trying to be humorous all the while

"I can't believe you fell for the same trick I used on you before" said Ino accusingly

"Sorry, I let my guard down at that moment" replied Sakura

"Well as long as you're alright, then that is fine" smiled Tenten

"Alright, so let's get this butt kicking started" called Kiba

Shikamaru immediately interjected, "Wait! Remember what I said, we need to conserve as much chakra as possible. So only one of us needs to fight while the rest of us must act as support"

"Then who is going to do that" called Lee as he was still in the middle of defending himself against the harionna counterstrike

"I'll do it" said Ino

"You can't! You're a medic and that makes you too valuable to lose on the mission now!" argued Shikamaru

"Ino you mustn't do this!"Sakura then added in

"Don't worry, they still have you and besides I don't have a lot of chakra to begin with. So you would be the better choice for the future of this mission" said Ino. She then looked back with a smile while giving a thumb up to her best friend. "So have a little faith in me, I can take this one on my own"

"Ino . . . " muttered Sakura

Shikamaru didn't like how this was going, but Ino was definitely adamant about her decision. "Everyone! Pull back let Ino handle it from here!" yelled Shikamaru

At that call Lee, Naruto, and Kiba pulled back allowing Ino to take this one. But that is when she noticed the extra fighter.

"Uhh, who is that?" asked Ino

"Someone from the past we knew" answered Sakura

Naruto then gave a confused look. "From the past? When did we meet this person Sakura-chan?"

"Naruto! You know who this person it too!" said Sakura angrily at how forgetful her teammate was

"We have?" then asked Naruto

"Just forget it, but for now that man in on our side" said Sakura

The blond kunoichi shrugged at this. "Well good enough for me I suppose". She then looked towards the rouge. "You mind backing me up"

"Just don't get in my way" the rouge responded and with that the fighting began again.

Ino began with a couple of kunai as cover fire as the rouge closed the distance to get into striking range of his scythe. Soon the rouge was swinging away chopping away the hair that protected the guardian. Ino then ran in kunai drawn ready to continue her assault. This back and forth continued for a good while with the harionna on the losing end. But as it is known when you back an animal into the corner, it will then show its true fangs to you. For the harionna has had enough of this fight.

"This will end now!" screamed the harionna as her hair pierced the ground beneath hitting everything within the half mile radius. For the attack created hundreds of hair spires which all had spikes on them making it impossible to avoid harm. With the aftermath of the attack the demon was pleased with the results. For the technique had killed the group that was watching the fight as their bodies laid in bloody messes and body parts were scattered everywhere with blood soaking the ground below. As for her opponents, the rouge was clearly unable to fight anymore since a spike had pierced his head making him unable to fight due to being pinned. So she decided she was going to have fun torturing him for the next millennium for trying to rise against her. As for her other opponent she was still alive but barely. Her arm and leg had been severed from the attack with a spike going right through her abdomen. The harionna then walked up to Ino with a sneer on her face as she chopped off her remaining arm and leg to which Ino gave off a heart wrenching scream.

"Do you have any last words mortal?" said the demon as she gave off a maniacal smile. But she soon would come to be surprised at her soon to be victim's demeanor.

Ino smiled back with an overwhelming confidence on her face. "Yeah, two words. Got'cha"

And with that the harionna blinked to soon discover everything around her was melting away. She then realized she was having trouble breathing. As the demon blinked her eyes she realized she was drowning at that moment. She looked up to see the blond kunoichi canceling her jutsu while the rouge having his hand on the perfectly shaped sphere of water.

"Suiton, water prison no jutsu" said the rouge with maniacal smile of his own

"_But how?! There isn't any water here for you to use such a technique!_" thought the harionna

As if the rouge had read her mind he answered her question. "I've been gathering water all these years trying to form this technique. But when those guys opened the gates to the floor above I managed to get everything I needed for this moment"

"_But_ _there is no way you could've trapped me so easily like this?!_" then thought the demon

But once again as if to answer her question, "You're such a fool, for as soon as I arrived I started releasing a pheromone into the air but it would have taken some time to work. So the whole point of us fighting you was just to buy time so that I could trap you in my genjutsu" stated Ino smugly

"_No! To be disgraced by these mortals! I refuse! . . . . I refuse! . . . . I refuse! . . . ._", and eventually the harionna passed out from the lack of oxygen

"Alright that should do" said Ino as she prepped the signature move of her family. "Mind transfer no jutsu"

Upon transferring in the rouge canceled his technique. The harionna then got up to check herself.

"Wow, this body feels kind of interesting" said Ino in the voice of the demon they had just defeated

Upon finishing the transfer Ino used the same technique that the demon used before in the genjutsu in order to act as pegs to keep the gate opened. Afterwards, the group then turned their attention to the rouge

"So Sakura-chan, who is this guy?" asked Naruto

"Are you serious?! You don't remember who this guy is?!" screeched Sakura, but then came up with an idea. "Alright how about this"

Sakura taking out a bandage kit from her pouch began to wrap the mouth area of the rouge, and bit by bit Naruto came to realization who it was.

"You're! . . . . You're! . . . . You're Zabuza!" exclaimed Naruto while pointing his finger at him

Zabuza looked to Naruto as if he were an idiot. "Yeah, do you have a problem with that?"

Naruto shook his head, but then a question came to mind. "Why are you here? I kind of figured with your background you would have been most likely further down"

Zabuza then gave an intuitive expression. "I thought so as well. But it seems my reason to give Haku a place to call home as well as killing that fat bastard got me some credit which ended with me coming here"

"OK", then Naruto gave the scythe a good look to which it definitely didn't look like anything a normal human could make. "Where did you get that?" as he pointed at the said weapon

"I got this from the reaper who sent me here" bluntly stated Zabuza

Tenten eyed the scythe with amazement. "Where could I get one?" she asked excitedly

"Well first you have to die, than second you have to forcefully take the scythe from the reaper. If it wants it back then all you have to do is decapitate him with it" stated Zabuza with some glee in his voice

"Why did you decapitate the reaper?" then asked Kiba

"He was talking too much"

At that point everyone in the group sweat dropped to the story. But things immediately got back on track. For like anyone who knew Naruto, Zabuza asked why he was in hell to begin with and as he explained before they were on a rescue mission to save Hinata.

"I see, so that was the girl who passed this gate recently" said Zabuza

"Yeah, so we need to get a go on right away. Can you help us?" asked Naruto as he and the gang began to move towards the gate

"There would be no point in me going since my chakra had already been used up fighting that guardian for all these years. Since I have no body it's rather difficult to recover in this state" explained Zabuza

"I understand, oi Ino are you going to be OK?" Naruto then asked

"Well so long as my body is undisturbed and the harionna conscious remains unconscious I should be able to maintain things here" smiled Ino/harionna

With that the remaining team began their decent once again. . But before Naruto left he had one more thing to say to the former water ninja, "You've really changed"

Zabuza scoffed at this "I'm still the same bastard I was before I died. But I do know the importance of protecting the people close to you. So I'll keep things going smoothly here until you get back"

"Great" but then something came to Naruto mind about a previous event from before. "Zabuza, was there someone alive who came here before us?"

The water nin then gave the boy a serious look. "I don't know, it was noticed that someone was crossing through here. However they had their presence well masked not to alert anything around them. Plus whatever that person did to the guardian here, she didn't do as much as raise a finger when allowing that person to cross the gate"

"So you have no idea who it was?"

"No, but I do know you should be careful from here on in. For just like your friend earlier hell can play some tricks on the heart. So don't allow your will to weaken at any point in time"

Naruto nodded his head "understood"

The young blond then began his run through the gate. "Alright, hold down the fort until we return!" yelled Naruto as he was getting caught up with his team as they made their decent into the next circle of hell.

* * *

~9th Circle – Treachery~

As Hinata sat in the cold darkness recovering from her latest attempt at escape she soon was going to have company. That entity was none too pleased about Naruto and co. breaking through the first two gates of hell and was definitely going to make Hinata know it.

* * *

Author's notes: I hope this chapter was an improvement from the last one. Also I hope this explains how Hinata had ended up the way she is. If you are curious about the rules of the scroll Hinata has they are: 1. It cannot take life due to the probability of unbalancing the karma of the universe, 2. It cannot control the freewill of others, and 3. It cannot bring the dead back to life.

So I thank you for your time in reading this fic and further extend my gratitude if you can review it as well.


	4. Gluttony

Chapter 4: Third Circle - Gluttony

Synopsis: Things have been well thus far for Naruto and his rescue team. But alas with the master of hell knowing of their continued success, the mission will not be so simple anymore. With all of hell now against them how will team Naruto fare?

However that is not their only problem. As Naruto ventures further down the circles he will come to understand the folly of his rashness.

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Naruto franchise or characters associated with it. I also do not own any part of the 14th century Italian divine comedy Dante's Inferno.

"talking"

_thoughts_

* * *

~9th Circle – Treachery~

Hinata screamed in agony as hell's master burned her soul with a flame similar to that of Amaterasu. This torture was not to destroy Hinata existence, but to show the master's distaste of the events that have happened thus far. By defeating two of the guardians of hell, the humans of the living world were now able to come and go from the circles as they pleased. But what really enticed the master's rage was why they were here. Agents learned in the first two circles that the male leader of these mortals had dared to barge into Yomi in order to recue 'this' pathetic soul.

The master continued to burn Hinata relishing in hearing her screams. For what really angered the master was not the fact that mortals had dare to transverse its territory, but the cause of it. In the hearts and souls of those mortals was an abundance of love they had for Hinata. For reasons long ago, the master detested the very concept of love with every fiber of its being.

But eventually the master did stop its torture since the Hyuga girl had already passed out from the pain. So in that moment the dark one swiftly turned around and warped a mirror like portal in front of it. This portal showed the circles of lust, gluttony, and violence. It then reflected within its mirror five souls. One soul each reflected from both lust and gluttony while the three other souls came from violence.

"Listen well souls of the damned" bellowed the master. "Enemies of your past have entered this domain, and if you are to defeat these intruders I shall grant you all asylum into limbo"

The offer too tempting to pass up was immediately accepted. However, the soul from lust wanted a different reward.

"If we are to defeat these intruders I do not wish to go to limbo. Instead I would like to be sent to the 9th circle" said the white haired male

The master finding this request odd didn't find any reason to refuse. "Very well, but if any of you are to fail me you shall be punished with an eternity of pain which like you have never experienced before"

Faint gulping can be heard from them but none of them refused the offer. With that the master restored those souls to their original bodies with all their previous powers and skills attached before the time they died.

"Now go" and with that command the five souls were instantly transported on an interception course with team Naruto.

* * *

~Stairway to the 3rd Circle – Gluttony~

As team Naruto progressed further down the weapons mistress of the group had something she wanted to give to her teammates.

"Here" said Tenten as she started to hand out special scrolls to each of her comrades

"What's this?" asked Lee as he examined the parchment

Tenten then had a bemused expression on her face. "These scrolls hold something special in them. I kind of felt they were a must for our journey here"

Now as Tenten was giving a thorough explanation about her special scrolls, a certain blond began to feel unease build up inside of him. Naruto clenched his stomach area unsure of it was. But for now he decided to ignore it as saving Hinata was far more important than his own health. However the pain was still very apparent.

"_Uhh, what is this_" thought Naruto as he cringed slightly at the growing pressure

Kiba who noticed this action decided to speak up. "Oi Naruto, you OK?"

"I'm fine I'm fine" responded Naruto in his usual personality as he quickly waved off Kiba concern, but then he noticed Sakura seeming down as well. "Sakura-chan, are you alright?"

Sakura was then knocked out of her stupor. "Yes I'm fine" she quickly said, but then started looking down again. "I'm sorry Naruto"

"About what?" he asked

"Not only did I need to be rescued again but I made you use up another clone" she pointed out

Naruto immediately waved this off. "It's fine, and besides anyone of us could have ended in that state it was just unlucky in your case. Plus don't worry about the clone as long as I don't do anything extreme I should be able to maintain sage form without too much trouble"

Sakura cheered up a bit, but she still felt depressed about almost compromising the team. Shikamaru then looked back to see Choji on his fourth power bar. However Choji didn't seem so interested in eating the bar but simply to stare at it.

"Something wrong?" asked Shikamaru

Choji looked up with a confused look on his face. He then looked back to the bar in his hand. "For some reason this bar doesn't taste right"

"Well you probably just lost your appetite for where we are. But as soon as we get out of here I'll buy the first round of dinner" said the shadow nin

The husky ninja liked that idea, but something definitely didn't seem right. Since when did he ever leave a snack unfinished? But soon enough he bought into his friend's explanation and continued onward.

Now after a little while longer the group eventually reached the third circle. However . . . .

"What did I just step in" said Tenten as she picked her foot up to see what was on it

Kiba then went to plug his nose while Akamaru went down to cover his nose with his paws. "Aww, that stinks! What is that smell?" said Kiba with Akamaru whimpering in agreement.

Sakura then took a look at the ground and went slightly wide eyed at her discovery. "I think what we are stepping on is alive"

Shino then placed one of his chakra bugs on the floor for further analysis. "Hmm, it's definitely alive. If I'm listening correctly this seems to be some sort of digestive tract"

"Eww, that is gross" commented Naruto

"Wait, are you saying this circle is alive?" asked Choji

Neji then turned on his Byakugan and viewed the current area. To his observations it seemed as if the entire area was a giant conduit of chakra channels. "Interesting" was all he could say.

On that end statement everyone proceeded into the circle. However Shikamaru then noticed an immediate problem about the terrain.

"Wait!" called the shadow ninja. He then pulled out a shuriken and tossed it onto the ground. After a few seconds of exposure the metal star was immediately reduced to sludge. At that everyone gave a shocked look to what happened.

"It seems something acidic has been lined all over the area" to which everyone nodded to this observation

However Naruto without a second thought then proceeded to walk out onto the acidic land. "What are you doing you idiot?!" exclaimed Shikamaru. But then to everyone's observation Naruto didn't seem to be in any pain, agony, or melting what so ever.

"If we treat it like water walking then it should be fine" said Naruto in a kind of well duh manner. At that everyone had a face smack urge since it should have been obvious to use chakra to safely transverse the land.

One by one as they entered the circle something unusual started to happen. Hundreds of bubbles of acid started to form around the Konoha ninjas. Within a window of a few seconds the convulsions erupted violently in which very grotesque human figures began to take their place.

"What the heck are they?!" said Naruto

"They must be the souls of this circle! Be careful everyone don't let them touch you!" said Sakura

As the twisted figures made their way closer to the leaf ninjas green drops can be seen falling from them. As the drops hit the ground a sizzling sound can be seen. All the corpses that were beginning to close on them were covered with acid that could reduce bones into mush.

"Why did they decide to attack now?" asked Shino as he got into a defensive stance

"That's not important, we need to get rid of them without expending too much of our power" said Shikamaru

"I'll clear the way!" called Naruto as he created two shadow clones

"Don't waste chakra like that!" shouted Shikamaru

"I know this is dumb!" retorted the blond as his two clones helped him prepare his rasenshuriken. "But I'm the only one here with a technique that can open a path"

Soon enough the technique was done and ready for deployment. "Alright here I go, futon: rasenshuriken" called Naruto as he threw the heavy chakra mass. Upon cutting through the first few souls the chakra mass then exploded into an incredible sphere of wind destroying the backing of the flank group in front of them. Although this attack seemed successful at first it was short lived as hundreds of those acid monstrosities replaced them in a blink of an eye. This was hell so it is to be expected that the army size here was infinite and staying any longer would force them into a battle of attrition which was a fight they could not win.

Neji then had an interesting idea how to get away from this hopeless situation, but doing so could prove detrimental if any one made one false move. "Everyone! Brace yourselves!" he called as he sent a payload of his own chakra into the ground with one of his gentle fist strikes. At that moment the ground began to convulse violently in which the organ they were standing on exploded sending the leaf ninjas away with the aftershock. In that simultaneous moment Naruto summoned a massive number of bushins to form a giant ball around the group in order to act as a cushion and shield to the explosion and the resulting acid that would have shot out. Plus in regards to that extreme move, Neji made a crater which ended up swallowing any of the souls who were too close to the blast site. "Huh" was the only sound Neji made during the course of that insane move.

After a few seconds of mid air flight the Naruto ball came crashing down onto ground below instantly dispelling all the clones.

"That was so f**king crazy!" shouted Kiba at the disbelief of what Neji had done

"What did you do Neji?" asked Tenten

Neji gave a slight smirk. "Since this place is alive with its own chakra coil system I simply exploited this fact with my techniques. Although it wasn't exactly ideal on how I wanted to escape"

"Yeah you could have killed us all like that!" Kiba said irritated with Neji coolness about the situation

Now the team was safe during the landing with a few minor complaints of Naruto clones touching places they shouldn't. However Naruto began to breath heavily afterwards. As he got up to face his fellow comrades it was well noticed that his sage mode was over.

"The hell?" said Naruto as he began to feel himself kneel to the ground. But soon enough found himself aided by Lee shoulder

"What's wrong Naruto-kun?" asked Lee

After taking some relieved breaths Naruto corrected himself to answer. "I'm fine now, but something was weird about my sage mode"

"What is?" then asked Sakura

"I'm not sure, but I know I should have been able to maintain that form for far much longer" Naruto mused

"Hell is hungry . . . ." said Choji

Everyone then looked to Choji for what he meant, but something seemed odd about Choji now that everyone was looking at him. The thing was for some reason as he was speaking his eyes seemed to have been shadowed. Now usually this wasn't such a big deal, but something definitely didn't seem right about him.

"Hell is hungry, for there is no amount of meat or grain that can quench this appetite. For hell is hungry . . . . for life!" and at that moment Choji lunged at Naruto instantly sinking his teeth into his arm. Naruto cringed in pain as he wrestled with the Akamichi to release his jaws. Immediately the rest of the team jumped in to force Choji back to his senses. But reason did not reach Choji ears as he swatted each of his friends away while closing his teeth tighter on Naruto. Then Sakura who was getting angry with the situation decided to force some sense into her friend.

"Snap out of it!" yelled Sakura as she used a chakra infused punch to force the chunnin back to his senses. Upon impact Choji's jaw released in which he was safely caught in Shikamaru's shadow mimic to keep his body from falling on the acid terrain. A few seconds later Choji regained his senses.

"What happened?" asked Choji as he rubbed his head on the spot he was hit on

Naruto who was being healed up by Sakura answered that question. "You tried to take a bite out of me! What's wrong with you?!"

Everyone waited for that explanation to which Choji felt himself cornered. However Shikamaru immediately stepped in to defend his close friend.

"Hold up, I know Choji has a good reason for this. Besides remember what that Kiri nin said, hell can play tricks on the heart"

Choji internally thanked his friend for his patience. He then thought for a good moment what had happened during the time of his insanity.

"I remember during the walk down here I was starting to feel really hungry. But the more I ate the hungrier I got. On my last snack I started to feel a starvation for something more. When I saw Naruto I suddenly wanted to take a bite out of him. Although at that point I don't remember much afterwards" explained Choji

"But why Naruto?" asked Shino

Sakura then stepped forward with a possible theory. "Well I suppose it must be the characteristics of sage mode"

"What do you mean?" asked Naruto

"If I understand sage mode correctly it takes in natural energy which is essentially life energy, right Naruto?"

"Yeah that's right, so what about it?"

"Well if that is the case then the will of this world wishes for life and through Choji-kun sin, it acted on taking the life energy from you"

"You better not be saying anything about me being fat!" grumbled Choji

Sakura gave a half-chuckle at this. "No, of course not Choji-kun" she said while continuing to give choked laughs

"Hmm, if that is the case then that is probably why you weren't able to hold onto sage mode and also probably why those souls attacked us earlier" said Shikamaru

"Then I believe it would be best if you didn't use that power for the remainder of this mission" then said Neji

"But it isn't conclusive" complained Naruto. "How do we even know that my sage chakra even attracted them?"

"Just to be safe for now refrain from using it. We want to get through each circle without too much commotion, alright Naruto " said Shikamaru

But before Naruto could give his agreement a low rumbling earthquake was felt beneath their feet. At that instant everyone looked to Neji with accusation.

Neji looked back annoyed, "this isn't me"

In instinctual nature the Konoha ninjas all jumped away as multiple sharp pillars and fountains of acid appeared all over the area. However the bursting organ beneath them created extra force pushing everyone away from each other. Although it wasn't far, it was far enough for them to be attacked more easily.

* * *

"This is starting to get really troublesome" complained Shikamaru as he helped his blond companion back onto his feet. But soon enough Shikamaru was going to realize that if he considered this troublesome then who he is going to meet now is going to be rather problematic.

"Good to see you again a**hole. You don't have that b**ch to hide behind again. So I'm going to make sure I kill you this time" said Tayuya

Shikamaru then looked to the new comer and only had one thing to say. "God must really hate me"

* * *

"We should really regroup with the others" suggested Tenten. "We don't know who is going to jump out and attack us at any moment"

However Lee was busy examining the pillar that shot up from the ground moments ago. As he touched the pillar, Lee could not help but feel nostalgia about it. "This pillar . . . . something seems very familiar about it"

"Watch out!" shouted Tenten

Lee turned his head to see something fast and small coming right for him. But before he could dodge out of the way Tenten had already weapon summoned one of her riot clubs to deflect the hit. However instead of the attack being deflected it was imbedded into the wooden weapon. Lee took the projectile out of the club for close examination and soon realized what it meant. But immediately more of those attacks came as both Lee and Tenten dodged and deflected the projectiles by any means they could.

Soon enough the white haired attacker revealed himself. As he walked out to his opponents, both of his arms were raised with his fingers pointed at them.

"So it was you!" said Lee with some shock in his voice

Tenten then looked to Lee. "You know this guy?"

"Yeah we fought before, but I'm glad to meet him again so that I can have that rematch" said Lee as he got into fighting stance

"When I kill you I'll get to be with my precious one again" said Kimimaro

* * *

"We meet again" smiled Sakon

"We are going to enjoy our reunion together" said Ukon as he appeared out of his brother's shoulder

Kiba felt a slight chill at the memory of being fused to the twins before. Even after so many years it still felt rather disgusting to have them be a part of his body for that short time. But then he saw his bug ninja companion step forward in order to have their attention.

"So you are the one who fought Kiba that many years ago", Shino then took out his hands as hundreds of bugs began to pour out to take the shape of a weapon. "I'll be sure to defeat you where my teammate could not"

Kiba could only look to his partner with a sour face. Not only did he make it seem like he was a loser but also that Shino had some unresolved issues. "_He still hasn't gotten over it_" thought Kiba as the bug ninja began his attack.

* * *

"So it's you again" said Neji as he activated his Byakugan.

The six armed man slowly walked up to him while giving his neck a bit a stretch while giving off a chuckle. "I'm going to make sure I kill you this time" smiled the spider ninja. "I still owe you for taking my head off that last time"

The Hyuga shinobi didn't waste any more time with talk. As soon his enemy was close enough to strike he immediately went for the chakra coils on his heart. Upon impact the six-armed ninja reacted to the damage as blood was spilled from his mouth. Although he must have been clearly defeated with that kill shot the enemy could only smirk with delight as blood still continued to pour out his mouth. Neji then looked back to where he had struck and only could become wide eyed to what he saw. For as he peeled his hand back he saw as his chakra coils began to rewind themselves around his heart.

"As I was saying this fight won't be as easy as the last time" he smirked

* * *

Choji came flying back after taking a massive hit from his opponent. Sakura using her ninja speed caught Choji before he could land on his back. She looked up to see a large ninja change colors from his usual human skin tone to a more monstrous red and purple look.

The fat ninja laughed as huge amounts of evil chakra poured out of him. Soon enough he started to look bigger and bigger by the moment as his chakra grew.

Choji immediately straightened himself out looking back at the fat ninja for what was so amusing. "Don't worry, that move takes up a lot of power to maintain. If we keep pressing he'll be out of chakra in no time"

"That's what you think!" he called as he continued to grow bigger and bigger

The husky ninja then chose to answer back with his own trash talk. "It won't be any different from the last time I defeated you, and I have become a lot stronger since then"

However the monstrous man continued to laugh. "There are three reasons why you can't beat me. First you're still the little weakling from before" Jirobo was now four times as big as before. "Second, the energy of this world fuels me with infinite chakra as my disposal" the monstrous man then swung his fist down destroying approximately twenty feet of the area he had hit. "and third, in this world we are immortal" he sneered.

* * *

"You've got one hell of a price on your head for a shit piece of trash like yourself" said Tayuya as she started to shift to her level one seal

"But the master has pretty much placed a sizable bounty for any worthless soul here to take. If anyone of us can at least kill one of you f**kers then we would be granted passage into limbo"

Naruto then elbowed his partner. "See, I told you it wasn't my sage mode that attracted them from earlier"

But like how most irony goes. "and if it weren't for that funky energy a while ago, we wouldn't have been able to have first dibbs on your a**es". The blond ninja then gave a comedic sweat drop as Shikamaru could only look at his friend with contempt. Now immediately a good sizeable force of gluttonous souls popped out of the ground ready to feast on them and receive their reward of ascension from this circle.

"These fat a**es should provide good entertainment. But I'll be the one to kill you and get the f**k out of this place" and with that she began her attack by blowing out her "allies" in front of her attempting to kill the two Konoha ninjas.

Now both Naruto and Shikamaru were on the defensive since neither of them had any jutsu designed to counter Tayuya sound attacks. Plus they were also trying to avoid being flanked by the corrupted around them. Although the sound ninja did make it easy for them as she was annihilating some of her competition with her indiscriminate attacks. But immediately at the start of their fight Tayuya went directly to her level two seal transformation. The shadow ninja then looked to his blond compatriot.

"Her attacks are vulnerable to wind affinity. So you're wind right, do something!" said Shikamaru as he dodged another sound blade coming for his head

"My only wind attack is the rasenshuriken. So there isn't much I can do!" exclaimed Naruto as he used a replacement jutsu in conjunction with his kage bushin to take the sound projectile

Now Tayuya was just having her fun by using her attacks to keep them on edge. Of course her body was immortal like the other members of her team. Just like them, the evil of hell continuously fed her with infinite chakra to use. But what made her really dangerous was how she was far stronger then she was when she was alive. For it seemed that her horns had grown bigger. As for her body, her skin seemed to have a darker shade to it now with her hair becoming more hot pink. Furthermore her flute seemed to be alive as it looked partly organic in the shape of that instrument.

Naruto who noticed that last fact blurted out what was on his mind. "What is that thing? Is it alive?" The blond ninja then noticed the drool from the flute "is it, is it giving her tongue?!"

Tayuya having heard that comment became extremely pissed. "You f**king blond! Are you blind or stupid?! Do you think I'd be frenching this?!"

Shikamaru then decided to take advantage of this situation by coming up with a plan. As the blond and the red head squabbled over indecency Shikamaru came to a possible strategy which could get them the win. He then told a viable clone his plan before dispelling him to allow Naruto in on what he was thinking. Upon Naruto signal Shikamaru counterattack began as he pulled out a scroll Tenten had handed to him earlier.

* * *

Kiba was watching dumbfounded as Shino was taking on the twins by himself. Of course the dog ninja wanted to help out his teammate. However, not only were direct physical attacks a bad idea but Shino wanted these guys all to himself.

"_He definitely hasn't gotten over being left behind_" thought Kiba as he saw Shino send out swarms of his insect to take on his opponent.

Now Sakon and Ukon were relatively the same as before, but they definitely looked a hell of a lot uglier than the last time. For looking at them now one could swear they were the spitting image of a certain fallen angel from a certain religion. But what made them stronger now was how they were able to fuse their bodies with the surroundings souls of the area in order to heighten their overall physical parameters.

Shino having previous intel on his opponent used his bugs to counteract the absorbing effect the twins had. Of course the twins noticed this and did what they could to compensate for how indirect the fight was. But eventually Shino did manage to capture Ukon by modifying his bugs to produce a chakra resonance to keep them from being absorbed and nullified. However this was only a distraction put on by the brothers.

"Now brother" called Ukon, and from the acidic ground below Sakon emerged in front of the bug ninja with the appearance of a skeleton. But right before Shino eyes Sakon bodily tissues instantly regenerated with organs, soft tissue, skin, and cloths being reformed. At that immediate moment Sakon grasped his arm.

"Gotcha" was all he said as his arm began to try to merge with him, but to his expectation the bugs within Shino tried to repel him from the fusion. However the acid bath that he had taken earlier was still very apparent which made the chakra bugs not completely able to repel their master's attacker.

Shino then had no choice but to loosen his focus on Ukon in order to repel the current threat. But that was precisely what the twin brother was hoping for as now both brothers had the bug ninja flanked. Shino then instantly erected a bug barrier around him but then found it under distress as the twins began to apply incredible pressure on it as they squeezed it on both sides like a garbage compactor.

"Shino!" yelled Kiba as he was running in to save his friend. But then he noticed an unusual glint in his companion's shades as he reached into his side pocket to pull out a certain scroll.

* * *

Neji in his fight with Kidomaru was for the most part a stalemate. For the spider ninja couldn't hurt Neji while in return he couldn't get close enough to attack him either. Kidomaru was definitely a lot faster than before with an extra set of arms to fire off two of his arrows consecutively. But what made him trickier to fight now was how he was able to multitask between jutsu to counter each of the Hyuga techniques. For Kidomaru kept moving from bone pillar to bone pillar in order to achieve a better sniping position on the Hyuga while he was busy trying to defend himself from the spider summoning as well as the tormented souls of this circle. During the course of the battle some souls managed to pull Neji into the terrain in order to melt in legs off. As Hyuga's are known for their incredible ability to control chakra, Neji managed to keep his limbs attached. But now it was becoming rather taxing to constantly use chakra as a barrier between him and the acid.

At this point he didn't like how things were going. For not only did he have to deal with a skilled sniper, but also a bunch of spider summons as well as an infinite army of desperate souls. These factors forced him to use up massive amounts of energy to keep at bay. So with this in mind he knew this was going to be an uphill battle that he would lose if he didn't make a decisive move now. Neji then pulled out a scroll he had tucked away within his sleeve.

* * *

Choji and Sakura were having one hell of a time dealing with Jirobo. For this battle was a clear test of strength between the three of them. With the combined physical power of both Konoha ninjas they managed to stand their ground against the giant who stood three stories high. However the battle was getting increasingly difficult as Jirobo grew larger and the army of corrupted grew vaster. Although it was taxing to terminate the corrupted it was better than allowing them to continuously grow which would eventually outnumber them in the matter of seconds. But at this point in time both Choji and Sakura believed if they could get rid of the main enemy then the small fries would dissipate as they were clearly no match for the two in the first place.

"Were going to have to use the scroll" said Sakura as she pulled it from her item pack

"Will it work?" asked Choji as he repelled another wave of corrupted

"We're about to find out" replied Sakura as she unraveled the parchment

* * *

Tenten came flying in with her staff jousting it to her opponent. But the attacks proved ineffective. Even though Kimimaro was immortal, his Kekkei Genkai made it damn well impossible to pierce his chest cavity not to mention he was in his level two stage which made him a whole lot harder to fight. With the weapons mistress latest attack the bone ninja scoffed at this as he threw his enormous bone drill at her. Luckily Tenten managed to parry the attack, but not completely as the rotational force of the drill clipped her side. Tenten winced at this as she was flung back by the attack.

"My turn!" declared Lee as he came in swinging his highly dense metal nun-chucks which made up most of his leg training

Meanwhile Tenten slowly recovered to her feet. As she watched the exchange between Kimimaro and Lee, she brought out a familiar scroll to which she had handed everyone in her team earlier before entering this circle.

"I've had enough of this" said Tenten as she rolled out the scroll. On this paper was a very complex set of seals with multiple sutras inscribed on it. She then wrapped the scroll around her staff and after a few hand seals the sutras were then imprinted onto her weapon of choice.

Back to Lee's fight, the taijutsu expert swung both of his nun-chucks down only to be broken by his opponents bone claws.

"Impossible! His bones are stronger then my nun-chucks!" said Lee

He then saw his imminent end approach as Kimimaro bone drill came swinging right for his head. On instinct, Lee shut his eyes to better endure the painful attack. However it did not come, and as he opened his eyes, Lee could only stare as the drill was only a few centimeters away from putting a new hole in his head. Lee then looked to the base of the drill to see it was completely smashed apart and the sole reason to its current condition was due to . . . . a wooden staff?

Tenten could only display a smirk on her lips at how successful her attack was. But Kimimaro was at a loss for words as he didn't understand what going on. He then took a step back to better analyze the situation.

"I don't know what you did, but you won't get lucky a second time" he said

The weapon mistress still kept of smirk as she stared down her opponent. "We'll see about that" She then looked to her comrade and handed him her weapon. "You wanted the honor of finishing this right"

At that trade off, Kimimaro fired off several of his bone bullets, but were easily destroyed by Lee staff. He then created two of his bone drills planning on steam rolling right through him. However that proved ineffective as they were not only stopped but broken upon impact with the wooden rod. With the latest attack the bone ninja couldn't understand how that weapon was superior to his.

But now it was Lee turn to hit back as he swung his staff down hard and fast at Kimimaro head. Upon seeing the attack, he immediately created a super dense bone shield. Then like paper, Lee's staff easily ripped right through his defenses and smashed right into his head. Lee then continued his barrage of hits to which Kimimaro tried but failed to stop. After a short beating the albino man could swear his body was burning hotter than he has ever felt before.

The albino ninja then looked to his adversary in disbelief. "How? How can a wooden rod overcome my dense bone weapon?! How?!"

Without answering, Lee raced forward shooting the staff right at his opponent's chest. However this time it easily shot right through the undead man's body skewering his heart in the process.

Kimimaro could only look down at the damage as he felt his insides burn like crazy. It was then he understood why his attacks had become so powerful.

"So you've finally noticed. The scroll I just used had Buddhist sutras written on them and with the proper hand seals they were inscribed onto whatever the user had in mind, and due to the fact of your impure nature the attacks may have at first seemed stronger. But in actuality they were just purifying your body" explained Tenten

"Hmm, I see" was all the he could say as he felt his body crumble away. "I suppose it is back to my circle for me" and with that he turned to dust as Lee and Tenten watched as his body crumbled into nothing.

"It was a good fight, but not the one I wanted. But for now may you rest in peace" prayed Lee as he clasped his hands in front of him.

* * *

Jirobo sensed his comrade's fall but then redirected his attention back to his fight as he dodged another flying uppercut done by Sakura. For moments ago in this fight Sakura had inscribed weird sutras onto her gloves. As the giant aimed his fist at her with crushing speed the pink haired kunoichi launched her own punch which not only stopped his attack but completely obliterated his entire arm. The added bonus was that he couldn't regenerate his arm due to the purifying effects of the sutras. Choji then came with sutras inscribed all over his body then began his attack.

"Human Bullet Tank no jutsu!" called Choji as he formed into a giant ball shooting forward mowing down the corrupted in his path. He then managed to attain enough leverage to bounce himself up to fly right at him. But at the last moment Jirobo side stepped avoiding a cataclysmic attack but losing his other arm at the elbow during the process. Sakura who was still in the air behind him spiked Choji like a volley ball back at the opponent. This time it knocked out one his legs. Choji then rebounded off the ground and shot forward again which took out Jirobo other leg. Now with Sakura and Choji in mid air, the giant could only stare up at his inevitable doom.

"Please! Spare me!" he begged however the two Konoha ninjas knew better, for if left unchecked he could somehow regenerate and come back for them later. Sakura then took Choji hand and began swing him around. After attaining a good amount of centripetal force Sakura released him towards the ground below.

"Go!" shouted Sakura as Choji once again used one of his family's signature techniques.

Now with the added speed Sakura gave him his attack was going to be devastating. As his attack landed with the effect of the sutra still in place it not only defeated Jirobo, but it left nothing behind as an enormous thirty meter crater in radius was formed. Choji immediately got out as he didn't want to test how the sutra would stand up to a pool of acid.

And with that the battle was finished.

* * *

Neji having used the scroll imprinted the sacred words to his chakra channels. In that moment of time, several of Kidomaru's arrows were coming right at him along with the numerous amounts of spiders and corrupted wanting to take his head. It was then Neji knew the one technique he needed to end this fight.

"Kaiten!" shouted Neji as he released a large amount of chakra while going into a spin. Now his normal kaiten was small to defend his immediate area as well as conserve chakra. But in this case he needed to strike the entire field in order to purify the combat zone to prevent anymore corrupted from coming out. So with that in mind he jumped rather high in the air and released a kaiten as big as he could manage. After a few moments he stopped while heaving over the large amount of chakra he had to expend. But it was well worth it as there were now no enemies in sight and Kidomaru had lost two of his arms.

In that instant he killed Kidomaru the exact same way he had done before by popping off his heads chakra coils.

"Stay dead this time" said Neji as he slowly walked away from the scene

* * *

Sakon and Ukon screamed in pain as they were forced apart and away from Shino.

"What was that you trash!" demanded Sakon as he could still feel the burns of that attack

Shino during his critical moment endowed his insects with the sutras giving them a mystic aura instantly repelling his attackers. But as Sakon demanded answer from him, the bug ninja only had one thing to say.

"Your end" he replied and with that sent his insect swarm to finish off the brothers like a plague as they screamed in pain from the numerous boils that were created

Kiba flinched at the sight at how cruel and scary Shino could be. "_Note to self, don't ever piss an Aburame off_"

* * *

"Shadow mimic no jutsu" called Shikamaru as he began to control as many corrupted as he could sending them towards Tayuya.

The sound ninja scoffed at this pathetic attack. "You must have become desperate if you think this will save you!" She then began to play her flute to which Shikamaru knew too well

"_Damn, it's that genjutsu again_" thought Shikamaru. "Naruto now!

"I'm on it" said Naruto as he flung several explosive tag kunai towards the enemy. But Tayuya laughed at the feeble attempt.

"Do you think weak attacks like that can hit me" but to her surprise they cut right through her sound barrier and right through a few of the souls behind her which then exploded. She knew then that they had wind chakra on them but also saw that some of the bomb tags were duds that were now stuck to some of the gluttonous souls.

"You stupid d**k head, you should have your friend work better at his shitty aim" criticized the sound kunoichi

However Shikamaru displayed a grin at this. "No, I'm afraid it's checkmate now"

"What?" but before Tayuya could comprehend what he had meant she realized not only was her flute gone but her hand as well. She then turned to see some of the corrupted with bomb duds on them turn into Naruto. In that instant the clones grabbed the sound kunoichi wherever they could as they themselves were the sutras. As they grabbed a hold of her Tayuya began to violently struggle as she began to notice her body beginning to turn to dust.

"Get off me you f**king perverts!" she yelled as she attempted to beat them off. However doing so made the degeneration go by faster.

Shikamaru could only look on with pity to this poor girl. "You were careless, you were too far drunk with power and immortality that you failed to notice what was going on. For this reason you have lost"

Tayuya looked at the shadow ninja with absolute hate on her face. "I'll get you one day! It may not be in this life. But I'll sure as hell kill you in my next life! You f**king hear me! I'll kill you then!" and with that she was gone.

"Yeah, you and a hundred other people. So get in line" said Shikamaru. As soon she disappeared the corrupted soon followed as they now knew they couldn't possibly win or at least hope they were weakened enough to be killed at that time.

Naruto then walked up behind his friend with a curious expression on his face. "Hey Shikamaru, what is with you and enemy kunoichi?"

Shikamaru could only think of one reply. "God just hates me sometimes like that" and with that they began to regroup with everyone else.

* * *

As the team slowly got themselves back together they thanked Tenten for the scrolls and how effective they were in their fight. However the scrolls effectiveness was limited as they could only appear on the subject for a certain time limit before dissipating back to the paper. Also the fact was it would lose its purifying properties over time with overuse.

Eventually the group then made their way towards the next gate. Of course they ran into some obstacles such as some desperate souls wanting freedom. Although they weren't as bountiful as before due to their recent show of strength, but there were some desperate ones here and there that would pop out from nowhere from time to time. However they were too weak to pose much of a threat to them.

Now as they wondered around looking for the gate they saw many horrid sites before them. At one point the young eyes have seen souls being chewed into multiple bloody pieces and digested continuously in an infinite cycle. Other times the group saw the tormented being forced to bathe in a seemingly endless sea of rot, wastes, and feces. Another grotesque site was to see some of the tormented forced to continuously eat past there limit even when they were begging to stop. Some of these atrocious occurrences a few of them gagged from the sight, sound, or smell that entered their senses. But what kept them strong and moving forward was the need to finish what they came here to do, and that was to save their precious person.

But eventually the group had seen the gate within the distance. As they raced towards it they were wary of what guardian they were forced to face this time. As they ran Kiba picked up on a scent which seemed kind of odd to be here.

"_That's strange, it seems . . . . familiar?_" thought Kiba

Finally the group managed to make it to the gate to which it had appeared to be defenseless as if the gate was just waiting for them to cross. However the Konoha ninjas knew this was too good to be true. For if hell really had it out for them there was no chance that a gate guardian would miss out on trying to kill them. However they couldn't miss their opportunity to cross the gate without too much trouble.

Kiba then sniffed the air once again and found it stronger this time and instantly he knew what must be here. "Everyone get back!" and in that instant a giant creature came crashing down above them at incredible speed. If a moment later had passed without Kiba warning, half of the team would have been killed on the spot.

Now as team Naruto recovered from the shaking ground and the near death experience they stared upon the creature which stood between them and the gate to the next circle. In front of them was a giant wolf like creature. Although parts of it seemed rather elegant it was well noted that certain section of this great wolf was rotting.

"It is good you humans have come here" snickered the giant creature. "If I kill you here I will most certainly be rewarded beyond measure" the wolf then leaned back while bearing its fangs. "With your death I shall ascend Yomi and reclaim my rightful place in grace"

"What the heck is it talking about?" asked Naruto as he could understand the creature was trying to kill them, but didn't understand what it would gain from it.

"That thing is an Okami" explained Sakura. "Once a proud noble wolf god, but became a fallen one as it was consumed by its own gluttony as it would appear"

Naruto then looked to the Okami once again "move aside mutt, we have business with the master in the last circle" as he pointed towards the gate

The Okami laughed at this statement but then became dead serious. "You foolish meat bags don't understand what you have done! You have caused a bleeding effect to occur between the gates as now there is no distinction or force to keep souls in their circle. But you mortals have been lucky thus far as our presence as guardians maintains the order within our domain. However the minions of the guardians you have defeated now may follow you here and kill you themselves"

The blond's eyes immediately shot open at the prospect of what that meant "Ino! Sai!"

The Okami snickered at this, "Don't worry about those two for the master is far more interested in getting rid of the group trying to make their way down to its level." The canine then looked down to the group with glee "You humans don't seem to understand that things like substance and form for us don't matter. Now that the gates have been opened their minions may now appear before you at any time they can. But unfortunately for them I will have the pleasure of ending your journey here"

"But then I don't get it! How would you benefit from killing us?" then asked Naruto

The Okami then displayed a wide smile, "If I were to defeat the intruders who were causing this distortion in hell my celestial title could then be restored and I could then shed my bonds here and take my place up in heavens once again"

"You really need to shut up"

Everyone then turned to see Kiba approach the wolf in a cool steady manner. "I bet you give canines in all three worlds a bad name at how much you b**ch about your problems" Akamaru barked in agreement. "So to uphold the honor of the Inuzuka clan and what we stand for I'll be sure to kick you're a**!"

The Okami laughed at this, "Do you really think you can defeat a god such as myself!"

"A god?" the dog nin placed his hands on his waist while showing a face as if the guardian of gluttony had just told a joke. "You're nothing more than a demon now with his tail between his legs. It's for this reason that makes you vulnerable to defeat"

"We'll see about that mortal" and with that the great wolf began his attack with pouncing on Kiba.

In that moment of hang time Kiba began to plan his strategy of attack. "_That thing is definitely an over glorified dog. If that's the case I need to take out its greatest asset_." The dog nin then threw several explosive tag kunai at the head of the beast. But it appeared to have had no effect.

"Weak attacks won't work on me" yelled the wolf as he landed and had captured Kiba beneath his paw. However the wolf felt something was off about the human but was too late to react as he turned back into Akamaru. "What?!" in that moment the real Kiba appeared sending several projectiles into the nostrils of the beast. The Okami screamed in agony, "what have you done?!"

As Kiba landed to the ground he appeared to have been tossing a bunch of pellets he had in his hand up and down. "High dosage garlic, I didn't think it would come in handy, but luck favors the prepared." The dog ninja knew that this wolf had to have pretty high tolerance to bad odor by now after spending god knows how long in this stinking hell hole. But getting rid of his smell was but one part of what he needed to do.

At this point everyone could see each hair on the demons fur stand in rage for being made a fool of. "You're dead!" it screamed as it opened its jaws wide to consume the boy and his little dog too.

However Kiba's attack was not done yet. "Akamaru, beast human clone transformation, again!" The dog then ran to his master's side and became his twin once more. As the fallen gods jaw drew closer, the twins jumped away from the attack. The demon wolf unsure of which the dog was and which the man was decided to attack the closest one.

Due to Kiba and Akamaru close proximity they literally had the Okami chasing its own tail in circles. When the opportunity arrived Kiba took out his next target with his dog's assistance. For as they were both now on the opposite sides of the wolf's head they both threw explosive tag kunai into the sensitive ears of the fallen one and at that moment took away another one of the wolf's abilities.

The Okami screamed in agony, but it was far from over. For the wolf god's eyes were now red with anger as a violent storm of wind surrounded it. As the huge twister engulfed him he raced towards the unprepared Kiba and Akamaru blowing them away like trash in the wind.

"I should have done this from the beginning" sneered the wolf.

Kiba slowly got up shaking a bit at how powerful that attack was even after having the side of its head blown in. Akamaru quickly recovered and aided his master back to his feet. Now he knew a head on attack with an opponent this big and powerful was just downright stupid. But at this point he can't risk taking another hit while attempting to disable his legs.

"Well boy we can't fail now" said Kiba as he petted Akamaru head. "This is where we bet all or nothing!"

With that declaration the two did their man-beast transformation once again and had become this time the double-headed wolf. It was then with the new union that the pair did their strongest attack.

"Dual wolf fang!" Kiba called as a drill of wind appeared lancing towards the fallen god

"A battle of fangs is it, interesting" and in response the Okami resumed his twister attack where in mere moments crashed right into the piercing fang. The clash generated sparks of electricity as the friction of the two attacks could be seen. After that exchange the two were averted from each only to collide again moments later. For this exchange was made several times with neither backing down nor giving in. However . . . .

"Ahhh" yelped Kiba as the now the two-headed wolf had to cancel his attack, and unable to maintain the stress of the technique Kiba and Akamaru were forced to separate into their individual forms.

"You're done for!" screamed the fallen god as he initiated his attack once more sucking his enemies into the eye of the storm. Unfortunately due to his previous technique, Kiba and Akamaru still had not recovered enough from the backlash and could only tumble about helplessly inside the storm.

Shino then began to move at the first sign of struggle, but was immediately stopped by his teammate. "Just wait! Allow Kiba more time with this." However Choji had already left the group.

"Multi-size no jutsu" called Choji as he grew to the equivalent size of the Okami, and with exact timing caught the wolf by the tail and threw him to the solid surface of the gate. The giant ninja then caught his two comrades softly as they came falling from high up. But the action wasn't over as the wolf then pounced onto Choji wanting to take a bite out of his neck. Luckily he did manage to catch the oversized canine by the jaw before it could reach. Irritated the guardian then pulled back and sharply went back in landing a bite on his shoulder. Choji cringed as he could feel each of the razor sharp teeth sink into his flesh. He then attempted to pry the wolf's jaws off, but soon realized it had far too much leverage over him to do so. The husky ninja was now desperate to remove the creature as his jutsu was soon to end. For if he failed his entire arm and shoulder was going to be popped off like a twig. But luckily for him Kiba was not completely out yet.

"Dual wolf fang!" for this attack was aimed at the belly of the beast. At Kiba last push of chakra with Akamaru they gave it everything they had. In result their attack not only hurt the Okami but drilled right through him severing his spine in the process. The demon screamed in pain to which Choji then made the flip around forcing the beast into a headlock. After enough pressure the guardian was soundly defeated.

At exhausting his technique Choji returned to his normal size with Kiba walking up right behind him. His face at first held a serious expression which soon cracked a smirk. "Awesome job" and with that gave him a high five.

The rest of the team immediately got to the exhausted combatants as Sakura got to work on their injuries. Shikamaru to say the least was not too pleased about the reckless action. But worst of all, they were now down by two more.

"Sorry we screwed up" said Kiba with Akamaru sitting next to him keeping one side of the gate opened. For both their bodies and chakra were now too dangerously weak to venture further down into the void.

Shikamaru scratched the back of his head "It's fine, it couldn't be helped in the end"

"You guys better get going. Things are about to get more wild soon. So you can't afford to waste anymore time like this" said Choji as he too was in the same position and state as Kiba

Naruto looked back between his two fallen friends at the gate and closed his eyes for a moment. He then reopened them "We'll be back soon. So just hang on until then"

"Just don't fail" smirked Kiba and with that team Naruto raced towards the next circle

The dog ninja then looked to his fellow gate companion to see him looking back at him. But unusually enough there was a sour look on Choji face.

The husky ninja then looked to his comrade with a single question in mind. "Do you have something to eat? That battle took quite a bit out of me"

Kiba at first felt a slight shock thinking he was going to be attacked like how Naruto was. But after analyzing his friend's expression he knew it was just in good humor. "Jeez" said Kiba as he reached into his pouch and threw him a milk bone while taking one for himself and Akamaru.

* * *

~9th Circle – Treachery~

The master was none too pleased to hear of another success made by the humans. But as it was thinking of a far better plan to kill them a very interesting idea came about. The master then looked to Hinata with a scary smile on its face.

"ku ku ku, If it's this soul they want, then it is this soul they shall have"

* * *

~Exact Location is Unconfirmed~

Two spirits trailed quietly behind Naruto's group as they made progress through the first three circles. But as they quietly watched from the shadows they could only smirk at how much perseverance and strength those kids had. These two entities did not allow themselves to be known until the time has come to reveal themselves.

* * *

Author's notes: Well this will be chapter 4 for ya. I hope this was an OK read for everyone. But yeah hell is going to be one hell of a party zone very soon. As for the two mystery spirits anyone is free to guess who they might be. But now for Hinata, if anyone has played the Dante's Inferno game then it should be apparent what the master is going to do to her.

So I thank you for your time in reading this fic and further extend my gratitude if you can review it as well.


	5. Greed

Chapter 5: Fourth Circle - Greed

Synopsis: Team Naruto now has made their decent into the domain of greed. However things here are not as orderly as they appear. The guardian of this circle is no longer in charge and unable to maintain order in its realm. But if that is the case then who is currently in control of the fourth circle and why has it fallen into disarray?

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Naruto franchise or characters associated with it. I also do not own any part of the 14th century Italian divine comedy Dante's Inferno.

"talking"

_thoughts_

* * *

"Go!" yelled Naruto as he repelled another attacker which materialized out from the ground

Team Naruto were racing down the transition area leading into the fourth circle. However on their way there they encountered a surprise resistance force. The monsters that appeared were most likely from the third circle since they were fat, stinky, ugly, and were attacking them by puking up acid while following up with biting attacks.

"They are so gross!" said Sakura as she recently threw a monster at another one that had just materialized.

Tenten was busy throwing explosive tags around while bashing a few with a Chinese war hammer. Meanwhile Lee and Shikamaru were punching holes into their opponents as they came. As for Neji and Shino, they were exploding their targets as they came near them.

But their troubles weren't over as minions from the second circle started to get in on the action. However Naruto and Lee failed to fight them out of embarrassment and disgust while the rest of the group took care of them. (They are the enemies encountered in the second circle by Dante in the video game/anime Dante's Inferno, and due to particular reasons I cannot, will not, and shall not describe them. But if you are curious just look it up on the internet)

After a while the minions stopped materializing to which Naruto and group took a quick breather as they began their walk to the fourth circle.

"That was really creepy" said Lee

"What was?" asked Tenten

"The monsters we just fought! They were so disturbing that my skin crawled upon their appearance" responded Lee

"You were scared by those big guys?" said Tenten as she raised her eye brow in curiosity to why Lee would be afraid of such a thing

Naruto then continued his thought process, "No, it was those girl monsters. I have never seen such a horrifying thing in my life!"

"What are you talking about?" she then asked turning to Naruto

The blond ninja thought this out a bit on how to word his question. "Do tentacles actually pop out a ladies . . . ." but before Naruto could finish his question he and Lee were smacked over the head by the pink kunoichi. Sakura then lectured both Lee and Naruto on the functionalities of female physiology and anatomy while also saying it wasn't polite to say such things.

At this discussion Tenten could only sweat drop while Shikamaru, Shino, and Neji shook their heads at the two stupid people behind them.

Now as they stepped foot into the new circle the Konoha ninjas could tell a lot of things. One was the fact it was extremely hot in this circle as it would appear some form of hot metal was being poured from place to place as if this were a giant metal forging factory. Another fact was the circle had the set up of a maze as it appeared to be one giant machine as gears, doors, and other contraptions were spinning, closing, chomping, and moving around like clockwork. But upon closer inspection team Naruto eyes could only go wide at the substance of the metal. For it was gold, the entire circle was practically made of gold. At this sight the Konoha ninjas could only wonder what one could do with a perceivably infinite amount of gold such as this.

But it was only after a few steps into this circle that Naruto collapsed onto his hands and knees while breathing heavily

* * *

~9th Circle – Treachery~

The master stood in front of a dark glowing sphere as it watched with anticipation about how enjoyable its plan is going to be. But from behind the master approached one of its loyal servants who was about to deliver some unpleasant news to which he knew he was going to suffer for. However withholding the information would gain a far greater sentence.

"I bring news from the third domain my master" said the servant nervously

"Speak" was all it said while maintaining its focus on the dark sphere

"Of course" replied the servant. After a few moments of stalling, the servant decided how to word the report. "My master, the souls that you have sent failed in their attempt to eliminate the humans. Furthermore the third guardian has fallen and they now have possession of the gate as they have proceeded into the fourth domain. Forces have already been dispatched to deal with them. Unfortunately they have not been stopped as of yet"

The servant immediately got into defensive stance ready for the horrific pain he would receive. But the master never turned around, and without even looking the servant was told to leave. Relieved that he wouldn't be burned again the servant peered around to see what the master was doing. Before his eyes he witnesses a maniacal smile plastered on the fallen ones face. For the master looks on with interest as the dark sphere which was the accumulation of evil created by humans began to choke out the once brilliant light of Hinata Hyuga.

* * *

~4th Circle – Greed~

"Naruto-kun! What's wrong?" asked Lee as he tried to help Naruto up and soon enough Sakura began scanning him for injuries while wondering what was wrong with him. The rest of the team stood around him curious to why he was in pain.

As Naruto stayed there he could feel himself pulsating as if something was trying to rip itself out of him. But he wouldn't allow it to win as he begun to focus and try to contain this feeling. However it soon became quite overwhelming to which Naruto then found himself within similar halls of a flooded wet floor.

"_How did I end up here?_" he thought as he took a look around his soul for some answers. Naruto began to walk down a few of the corridors. But as he got further in he began to notice some of the lighting getting dimmer. As he looked around he understood what section of his soul he was in. Naruto then took a turn around the corridor and went straight down the hall to end up in front of an all too familiar cage holding one of the strongest tailed beasts in existence.

"What are you up too?" he asked as he looked upon the demon fox who could only display a Cheshire cat like smile.

The Kyubbi laughed at this. "_**You are such a foolish boy to have done all this for the sake of one pitiful human girl**_"

Naruto instantly got angry at that comment. "Hinata is not a pitiful person! She sacrificed so much just to keep me safe! I'll bring her home even if I have to die trying!" he said while clenching his fist

However the fox didn't look a bit fazed to which the blond looked to the demon with scrutiny. "What are you planning?"

The fox laughed again, "_**You've noticed haven't you? The further you go down the stronger my influence becomes. Soon I'll be able to control you without needing your consent**_"

"I won't let you, so long as the seal is in place and my will is strong all you can do is wag your tail while you're in their" said Naruto mockingly as he placed his hands on his waist in a show of superiority

But the Kyubbi didn't look a bit threatened by this. "_**The fourth's seal and your will power alone cannot overcome an infinite accumulation of malice that permeates this world**_"

Naruto flinched at the odds he had to face, but the tailed beast had more to say. "_**However there is a way to save your soul and keep me locked in here**_" smiled Kyubbi

Without letting him finish Naruto already knew what he wanted to say. "I would have to leave here and abandon Hinata"

The Kyubbi roared in laughter. "_**Precisely! You can let me have your soul in your futile attempt to rescue that Hyuga girl or you can abandon her just to save yourself**_". Now the fox already knew his answer but he wanted to torture his host at the prospect of what he had to lose in order to gain.

Naruto didn't have to think for a second about his decision. "As I said before, I'll bring her home even if I have die trying" and with that he began to walk away. As he walked he could still hear the Kyubbi roar with laughter chanting on how it will soon be free from his caged life. Soon Naruto was back to the material world.

The blond blinked for a moment and then immediately got onto his feet. His friends all looked to him for an explanation on what just happened.

"Hey Naruto, what's up? Is there something wrong with you?" asked Shikamaru

"Are you hurt somewhere?" then asked Sakura as she began to scan him from head to toe for any injuries

Naruto simply waved them off assuring them that he was fine

But Neji and Shino had a feeling what was wrong because with their respected jutsu they had an idea what was going on inside their blond teammate. The Byakugan user decided to step forward on this one. "Naruto, what is really wrong with you?"

The blond ninja knew he couldn't lie to Neji eyes or Shino senses, and the way things are he would be a liability if he kept his teammates in the dark about his condition. So he explained the situation the best he could while trying to reassure his friends that he would be fine as they went on. However his team thought otherwise.

"That's suicide! If you get completely corrupted then you'll be stuck in fox form forever! You won't even be sane enough to return home and probably end up living here for the rest of your life" argued Sakura as she grasped Naruto by the collar trying to shake sense into him

"Naruto, if something like that happens you'll most likely attack us out of some misguided animalistic rage. So it would be better if you returned to the surface and let us handle it" then said Shikamaru

Neji and Shino simply nodded in agreement while Lee and Tenten were conflicted about what they should say. But this was one of those times where Naruto would not listen to reason and do what he was told.

"I don't care! It's all my fault that this happened to Hinata, and I'm going to make this right!" and with that the blond ninja broke away and began his run into the fourth circle of hell

"Naruto-kun, wait!" called Lee to which his team then began to chase after him. Soon enough he came to a full stop to which everyone else did the same right behind him. But before anyone could speak Naruto spoke up first "We're surrounded"

Instantly monsters from the second and third circle materialized around them and began the attack. At the same time monsters or possibly human souls were climbing out of the gold lava bath to attack as well. But strangely enough they were also being attacked by their comrades. The Konoha ninjas thought this was strange but didn't care to much as it helped them either way. So with the use of the sutra seals once again applying it to their weapon of choice the fighting began.

As the fighting went on Sakura smashed and grabbed any female tentacle monsters and threw it against the opposing group. Neji and Shino were bursting body parts and organs of any monsters within their view range. Lee and Tenten just used blunt force to subdue their own opponents while Naruto and Shikamaru slashed away with a kunai. A short while later the monsters from the previous circle were defeated while the news ones regrouped and ran off aware that they couldn't win as of yet.

Naruto and group took a quick break in order to catch their breath. But then a thought came to the group to which they were all thinking the same thing.

"Why were they attacking their own comrades?" asked Naruto to which everyone thought about this as well. Although no one had a plausible theory to why it was like this. Then something interesting caught the weapons mistresses' attention.

"Hey guys, doesn't it seem unusually quiet here?" she asked

"What do you mean?" asked Lee

Tenten took a look around before looking back to the group. "Well first off I don't seem to hear any souls in agonizing pain, and second from what I can see this place seems deserted"

With that assessment Neji turned his Byakugan on only to confirm what was just stated. "This is indeed odd. It appears as if there is nothing here in this circle. There isn't even a trace of one soul in the area"

Shikamaru found this quite suspicious. For the obvious point that there should be some greedy souls screaming their butts off in pain and second that they weren't being indiscriminately attacked like they should be. However the shadow nin saw no reason to take advantage of this brief moment of peace.

"Things are quiet for now" Shikamaru then looked to Naruto, "So you should take this time and head back up now"

Naruto looked back with unwillingness to move as he crossed his arm. The team strategist was getting annoyed at the blonde's stubbornness. But at this point in time it was pointless to argue with a teammate, and forcing him up would waste both time and energy.

Shikamaru sighed at this, "and what the hell do you think you're going to do if you lose control?"

A solemn yet serious look came about Naruto's features. "Don't worry, I got it covered"

The shadow nin could only shake his head at such a simplistic answer, but he understood that there was no point in arguing this any further. However Shikamaru did have one last thing to say. "If you do lose control you know what we have to do"

Naruto could only nod his head in acknowledgment in understanding the seriousness of his predicament. With that the team headed out.

But just like Tenten had noticed, the entire circle was practically empty. Everywhere the ninjas looked all they could see was moving machinery and hot pools of gold, but no souls anywhere. This was beginning to bother everyone as this was just too unusual even for hell. The first thought to come to mind was a trap, but if that was true it wouldn't be practical. Due to the set up of the terrain their enemies would also be at a disadvantage. Not to mention that the area was far too open. So materialization for them wouldn't give them the chance of a quick sneak attack. But just by chance the group noticed some erratic movement and immediately went undercover to investigate what it was. As they hid around some stationary points, the Konoha ninjas listened in on the conversation taking place.

"Hey let's hurry to the destination, the boss wants us there to hear out his plan" said an enormous fat man who had a look that just screamed evil

Next to him was a frail thin weasel looking man who seemed to be in well dressed clothing. However a part of him looked pretty burned from spending an unknown amount of time within the heated metal baths. The man turned to his compatriot, "are you sure about this? If the guardian finds out we'll all be in big trouble"

The fat man simply laughed at this statement. "Guardian? He was already taken care of. The boss now is pretty much in charge of this level. If we play along just right we'll be breathing living air in no time"

The frail man shivered a bit, but nodded in response. "I hope you're right"

"Did you hear that?!" whispered Lee from the hiding spot of the group. "What could they be planning?!"

"This doesn't seem right. I think it would be good if we investigate this matter" whispered Neji

"Aren't we on a rescue mission at the moment" then said Naruto

Shikamaru thought about this for a moment and then came to a conclusion. "I agree with Neji, something doesn't seem right. We ought to investigate this before heading on to the gate"

Everyone agreed to this as they then began to tail the pair.

But the task proved difficult as the two souls could easily make their way through many of the obstacles as the Konoha ninjas were forced to deal with the constant machinery, the giant pools of melted gold, and the puzzle traps in the way. However none of them proved too difficult as ninja speed and techniques easily bypassed the first two obstacles while Shikamaru's brilliance easily solved the puzzle traps which ranged from weight distribution to number control problems.

However there was one puzzle trap which kept them from entering the final area where the souls had said everyone else was. Now before them was a giant five by five square board. By the looks of it, it was impossible to skip due to the terrain composition and the hot gold which prevented them from going around. So looking at this board two numbers stood suspended over each of the columns while two other numbers represented each of the rows. The shadow nin unsure of the puzzle didn't want to take chances on a guess. So at this point he asked Naruto to create a few bushins to test out a theory of what he thought about the puzzle.

Shikamaru looked up to a column marked 2,3 on the first row marked 5,0. "Alright jump on that one"

The Naruto clone did as he was told and nothing appeared to have happened. Next the strategist looked to the next row which read 1,4. "Step on that one", but as soon as the clone stepped on it he was instantly incinerated as all the numbers for each column and row changed. After some deduction Shikamaru came up with a plausible solution to what the game was.

"It's like a game of minefield, chance, and math all wrapped in one" he said

The group looked to the shadow nin to further explain. "It seems the first number of each column and row tells how many safe squares there are while the second number tells how many traps there are" the group simultaneously nods. "The trick to this game is to look at all the possible chances of what squares could be trapped while others are safe. So basically it's a big game of statistics" Shikamaru then looked the board over again. "I should be able to figure this out in a moment"

"How long will it take" then asked Shino

"A few minutes, why?" replied Shikamaru

The bug ninja could only stare as monsters from the second and third circle were bearing down on their position. It appeared a near infinite wave was coming right at them. "I highly doubt we have a minute"

The strategist of the group could only look back in wide eye at what they had to deal with. "I need everyone to buy us some time. Naruto and I are going to quickly map out this board"

"What are you talking about?! I need to be out there fighting as well!" retorted the blond

Shikamaru looked back at him. "Naruto! We need to focus on this first! As soon as we map this out we can escape this area. So trust everyone to do their job". Naruto begrudgingly agreed to this.

With that Shikamaru looked over all the numbers once again as he got into his thinking pose calculating all the statistical possibilities of each square being safe or a trap.

Meanwhile the rest of the Konoha ninjas were barely holding the line as monsters kept coming and coming one after the other. The sutras they had gave them a slight edge in battle. But with the odds as they were the line could only hold out for but a few moments.

In that moment Shikamaru's eye snapped open as he looked to Naruto to prepare several of his bushins. He then looked back to the board at that moment. "_I only have one shot at this so I need to get this right_". So with that in mind Shikamaru began directing Naruto clones across the board mapping out each square to be safe to cross. But on the last row only two of the squares were safe and by his calculations he narrowed it down to a fifty-fifty chance for one of the clones to get it right. However time was short and action needed to be taken now. "Naruto that square!" he commanded. For he knew if he failed then he would have effectively killed the entire team. But lucky for him he guessed right.

"Everyone, this way!" called Shikamaru as he crossed the board where each bushin stood on. The rest of team Naruto disembarked from their fight and immediately started to run for the board. As they ran Tenten dropped a few explosive tags to slow the wave down, and finally after each member had safely crossed the puzzle board Shikamaru issued his final command.

"Now!" and in that moment all the bushins stepped on a trap square not only wiping out the entire front of the enemy wave, but also resetting the board. With that the Konoha ninjas crossed into the area where the meeting was taking place.

However before they entered the main area the bulk of the team required a few minutes of rest due to the intense battle they had to fight. For Neji, Lee, Tenten, Shino, and Sakura were in pretty rough condition as they had to exert a large amount of physical power and chakra in order to keep the previous forces at bay. Now each of them looked like hell from badly torn cloths to slash and bite marks here and there. A soldier pill could take the edge off their exhaustion, but they still needed a little more time to recuperate and for Sakura to start healing the group.

"You guys wait here. Naruto and I will go check out what this meeting is about. So stay quiet and you'll be fine" said Shikamaru to which everyone nodded in agreement as both the blond and shadow nin made their way out to the main hall.

The two ninjas decided to go for a high route as that was the best method for surveillance. Now as the pair looked around they were surprised to see how neat the place was. Granted the place did seem a bit gaudy, but it was far too fashionable for an apparition of hell to appreciate.

In the center of this greet hall, a near infinite of souls stood amongst themselves talking about miscellaneous things such as what kind of lives they had, how rich they were, and how they spent it. Some of the stories Shikamaru and Naruto heard made them feel a bit inadequate while others downright disgusted them. But finally after some waiting something seemed to be happening as loud horns were heard.

"Hey the boss is coming so shut your traps and listen up" said one guy who appeared to be a bodyguard most likely. As the main door opened a short man emerged which surprised Naruto to who is was.

"Gato!" shrilled the blond almost screaming it out at the very sight of him

"You mean that guy from Wave country?" asked Shikamaru picking up one of his eyebrows

Naruto nodded as an angry look came about his face at the memory of what he had done. However Naruto calmed himself down not wanting to do anything drastic.

"By this staff I am the master of greed and if you are all to serve me we shall leave here and be back on the human world in no time" preached Gato with a fat smile on his face. Everyone in the great hall cheered to the businessman's proposal while also confirming their alliance to him.

"You cannot do that!"

This instantly caught everyone's attention as even both Naruto and Shikamaru looked to the direction of the voice. As they looked to the corner of the great hall they saw a giant who had the appearance of Buddha but more of a warrior physique with green skin. By the looks of it the arch of gold around him was melted which bounded his entire body in the corner with an extremely dense golden mass.

"Silence Bishamon" called Gato as a bolt of yellow energy shot out from the buddhist staff zapping the bounded deity. The god screamed in pain as almost everyone in the great hall laughed at his torment.

"Now as I was saying if you work for me we shall enter the living world with not only the infinite riches of this world but with also the gift of immortality" said Gato as once again everyone cheered to his proclamation. "Now onwards" to which the waves then began to move out.

"We can't allow them to leave" said Naruto

Shikamaru nodded at this. If they make it to the living world then there would be no real way to stop them by any human means. But the bigger concern of the moment was the fact that there teammates were still resting back in the hallway, and far worse than that was their other teammates were keeping the gates opened to which they would all be slaughtered as the infinite army made their way through.

Shikamaru gave it some thought and finally spoke up. "We need to free the guardian"

Naruto nodded to this, he understood that the control of this circle was far better in the guardian's hands then in the hands of this lunatic. Even if the guardian turned on them they had to risk it. "Got a plan?"

"Hell yeah" said Shikamaru as he pulled out several explosive tags

Soon the massive army was marching out the door but was soon to be interrupted. "Fuuton!, rasenshuriken!" called several Naruto clones as they came crashing down in multiple areas wiping out huge chunks of enemies. Although this created gaps they were immediately filled in a blink of an eye. But the clone that had struck the center caused the biggest wind explosion creating a huge space. The real Naruto soon landed in the center catching everyone's attention.

"Get him!" called Gato as now everyone came rushing at him

Naruto crossed his fingers to perform his signature jutsu. "Taijuu, shadow clone no jutsu" and in that moment thousands of clones appeared to take on the army. Now although the numerical odds were terrible it was still quality versus quantity as the thousands of Naruto clones got mixed into the group mixing it up. Things were going well, but it was still an uphill battle as there was still too many of them. Within the span of a few minutes the thousands of clones were defeated to which only one Naruto was left only to be surrounded again. The blond at this time was too tired and was suffering from a few deep cuts to resist. Gato sneered at the Konoha ninjas end. However if one were to look closely a smile could be seen on the blonds face. Soon enough numerous of blades came crashing down around him skewering him in all directions. But in that instant he was reduced to a puff of smoke.

"Here we go" said Shikamaru as he still stood on the high arch way. "Shadow sewing no jutsu" and in that moment every well placed explosive tag that had been planted detonated destroying the arch way and ceiling creating massive debris to fall upon the infinite army. Shikamaru and Naruto rode on the falling debris as it flattened the thousands below. However it wasn't enough as thousands of greedy souls began to climb out of the ruins to attack them again.

"Oh crap" said Shikamaru at the sight of how many were still left

"I got it" then said Naruto as he rammed his rasengan into a nearby wall to create a way out. "Come on" he said guiding Shikamaru out the newly formed door. At their escape the army began to chase them.

The duo had run for a good while. But they soon turned around knowing they couldn't keep running forever. So they both drew their kunai ready to fight them all off to the bitter end. But the enemy army ran around them creating a flanking circle. But the duo smiled once again as Shikamaru turned back into Naruto.

"Boom" was all he said as another round of explosives were detonated swallowing the enemy force within an eight hundred meter radius while also blocking off their possible return back to the great halls.

Gato could only stare at the unbelievable state his army was in. Most of them were outside separated from him while a few were still left in the hall. "How did this happen?" But he then found himself unable to move as he looked to see one of his thugs using a jutsu on him. As he continued to look the thug was then surrounded by smoke to which Shikamaru emerged from it with Naruto doing the same next to him.

"Naruto, you're on clean up. I'll take care of him" said Shikamaru

"Understood" replied Naruto as he started to engage the leftover forces

The shadow nin then turned his attention back to the former wave businessman. "Now let's have you drop that staff"

Gato grinned at this as he squeezed the staff which then zapped Shikamaru in that moment

"OK, I didn't see that one coming" he said

Gato grinned as he pointed the staff at him which then shot out energy which captured him in an attack which not only caused him great pain, but also immobilized him.

"Shikamaru!" called Naruto as he had just finished off the last remnant

Gato spotted him as he turned the staff and started to attack him. Naruto was hit by the bolt and was sent flying.

The old geezer grinned, "hey, you're that blond brat from those years ago"

Naruto tried to pick himself up, but was having trouble doing so. "You've caused me a lot of money and I'll be happy to have this opportunity to get my due pay" and with that he pointed his staff at him once more and fired.

"Kaiten!"

The shot was deflected as Neji stood in front of Naruto in his Gentle Fist stance

"You OK" he asked

Naruto looked up with a smirk. "What took you so long?"

The Hyuga grinned to this in which the recuperated team Naruto then began their counter offensive. Shikamaru who was being helped up by Lee then gave his plan of attack. "Me, Naruto, Shino, Tenten, and Neji will focus of this old fart. You and Sakura go free the guardian"

Lee looked to his compatriot with shock. "Is that OK?"

"Just do it!" and soon the attack began as Sakura and Lee attempted to break the dense gold metal while everyone else focused on Gato.

Surprisingly an old man of forty-eight was keeping the offensive group on guard as his attacks were quick and caused momentary paralysis. Even when attacks were perfectly aimed at him a barrier would form nullifying their technique. However that was going to change as something extremely . . . . Awkward was going to happen.

"Eight Trigrams Empty Palm!" called Neji as he fired two vacuum shells which were stopped by the yellow barrier

Shikamaru then used his shadow sewing technique in order to give Shino an opening for his insect sphere move. However Gato then expanded his barrier blasting the two back.

Next was Naruto as he himself plus multiple shadow clones attacked him with a rasengan from all sides. But it proved ineffective as the old man waved the staff blasting them all back dispelling the clones and forcing Naruto away. Gato then walked towards him wanting to have the pleasure of finishing him off close and personal. He then began to charge power directly into the staff while raising it up preparing to swing down.

"Time for you to die brat" said the old fart

Naruto then saw an opening at this point. He flipped back and shot forward with a kunai. But he soon realized he reacted too slowly as Gato's attack was going to hit first before his kunai landed. This is where the awkward incident occurs.

"Naruto get back" said Tenten as she appeared in between the two using her body to push the blond back. But it was too late as the attack was coming right at them.

Out of instinct the weapon mistress leaned back as far as she could to avoid the strike to which she was successful in avoiding damage. However the attack did end up cutting something else. In that instantaneous moment Tenten retaliated by punching Gato with equipped brass knuckles as hard as she could in the face while screaming "Pervert!" The force of this attack could have rivaled that of the fifth hokages legendary punch as the old business man was imprinted into a nearby wall with the staff falling out his hand. For certain reasons, this attack was only successful because Gato had been temporarily "stunned" from what he had saw. But before anyone could notice, Tenten had retied the remnants of her gee jacket into a make shift strapless tank top.

Neji was first to arrive on the scene. "You OK" to which Tenten gave a slight blush while giving a nod

Naruto then got up and went to go get the staff. Now at this time Sakura and Lee had significantly weakened the bonds, but then the blond came walking right behind them.

"Hey! move!" to which the pair moved aside as Naruto jumped up and bashed the staff onto the mass which instantly fractured it.

"Freedom!" yelled Bishamon as he busted out from the golden chunks around his body

The giant soon got up and looked down on the Konoha ninjas but more specifically to the person with his staff. "Return my staff to me mortal. I must return order back to this circle"

Sakura looked to Naruto with worry. "Naruto we can't trust him. What if he turns on us?"

Naruto knew that many of the occupants of this circle were already trying to escape. So to keep the friends that were left behind safe he knew what he had to do as he handed Bishamon his staff. As the holy relic touched his hand it grew in size matching the height of the god. With a wave of his staff something definitely happened.

* * *

~Near the exist to the 3rd Circle – Gluttony~

"Where almost to the next circle" said the fat guy from earlier

"I can almost taste that freedom" said the frail looking man

And many other statements were heard as the numerous of corrupted soul were coming up

"What's that?!" said Kiba as he looked past the gate. Akamaru got up and started to growl

"Damn, it looks like trouble" said Chouji as he got into fighting stance.

The numerous of souls not wishing to be denied their freedom were ready to kill anything in their way. But before they even made it fully up, all the souls were then swallowed by a pool of hot melted gold as they were all returned to their place within the fourth circle of hell.

"What was that?" asked Kiba as he pointed

Chouji shrugged at this

* * *

~4th Circle – Greed (main hall) ~

"It is done" said Bishamon as he then turned his attention back to the humans before him

Team Naruto immediately got into defensive stance ready for whatever this deity may do. But it was not as they expected.

"You've made a fine mess of my palace as well as this domain. However you have freed me and assisted in restoring order to this cirlce, so you have my thanks and forgiveness" said Bishamon

Everyone was stunned at this statement, but they didn't sense any killing intent coming from the deity so they decided to relax. But they were still suspicious of his intention.

"I'm assuming you wish to go to the next circle. This way then" the god said as he began to walk out the hall towards some location. The ninjas then started to follow although still wary of the deity's actions. After some time they arrived in front of the gate as he had promised.

But now too tempting to avoid Lee asked the question everyone was thinking. "Why are you helping us?"

Bishamon looked before the humans and gave a simple smile. "Because your quest is noble and that in itself is reason enough to help you"

"But aren't you a fallen god too?" then asked Tenten

The deity laughed at this. "I may be a guardian of this circle, but I chose to be here in order to dispense my justice onto wrong doers such as them"

Sakura looked to Naruto, "we can't possibly trust this guy"

However one of the blond's greatest gifts was his ability to judge anyone's character and he knew what he saw within this god.

"I believe him" said Naruto to which the pink kunoichi face smacked herself.

Bishamon nodded his head. "You better be off now humans". The divine being then forced the gate open while placing his staff between the doorways in a firm action to keep the path back available.

But before the Konoha ninjas could leave Bishamon had one last thing he wanted to do. "Mortals, I have two gifts to give to you". The ninjas looked to the giant curious to what it was.

"First I present you this" to which Bishamon removed an octagonal instrument from his belt which shrank in size for the humans to have. "This will help you along your path"

Naruto took the device to on first glance looked like an ordinary but well decorated compass. "How is this going to help us? Don't compasses only point north?" he asked

The giant gave a light chuckle. "That is a special compass. For what it points to is not north, but instead where your heart wants to guide you". Bishamon face then got serious. "The second gift I present is information. As you had found me I would have not allowed such petty souls to get the better of me. However there was a human male with strange powers who crossed into this domain. I in my overconfidence fought him, but soon discovered I had underestimated his powers. As a result, I lost in which he learned of the location of the gate. The rest is then history as the souls then took advantage of my state and started running amok"

The god then took a breath. "Be careful if you are to ever cross his path. For in his eyes I saw a coldness to which I had only believed existed in hell"

Naruto nodded to this. "Understood, and thanks for your help" as he then grasped the compass tighter. Soon after team Naruto started their run into the next circle as Bishamon waved then good-bye before returning to his duty of guardianship while fixing everything the ninjas had broken.

* * *

~9th Circle – Treachery~

"Ku ku ku" chuckled the master as its little experiment had just finished

For as the dark sphere dissipated a naked girl stood in its place with black lines etched in certain places of her body. The master looked upon the once pure girl with satisfaction in its eyes.

"How do you feel?" it asked

The girl then looked up with a sinister smile on her face as her eyes which use to carry warmth and concern were now replaced with callous and desire. "Just fine" said Hinata Hyuga the new resident of hell.

* * *

Authors' notes: I hope everyone liked this chapter since I was sort of half asleep when I wrote it. But I do hope the story thus far is still relatively making sense. So as a preview for the next chapter in next two weeks, our favorite blond ninja and his friends are going to make their way into the fifth circle. As they make their way into the City of Dis, Naruto is going to be in for one hell of a surprise.

So I thank you for your time in reading this fic and further extend my gratitude if you can review it as well.


	6. Wrath

Chapter 6: Fifth Circle - Wrath

Synopsis: Now within the fifth circle of hell, team Naruto must navigate their way through a world full of hate. However doing so will not be as easy for the blond ninja as the monster inside of him is the embodiment of wrath. But hope is not so far off as a close person to Naruto will help him through this crisis.

But trouble is not so far behind as the compass that guides the group is unable to point their path. For what hinders their progress within the City of Dis is actually something or perhaps someone who really wants to meet Naruto.

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Naruto franchise or characters associated with it. I also do not own any part of the 14th century Italian divine comedy Dante's Inferno.

"talking"

_thoughts_

_

* * *

_Naruto began to start feeling that pain again, but even harsher than before. However, if he stopped now he wouldn't be able to get up again.

"_Damn Kyubbi_" thought Naruto as he tried not to show any pain. Even without taking a look inside his soul he could feel the demon fox trying to claw his way out. But he couldn't afford to let it win, not when things are becoming this serious. Thankfully the Kyubbi did take breaks which gave him some time to recuperate. But he knew he needed to hurry up before the fox completely corrupts him.

Eventually the team arrived into the fifth circle of hell. Naruto pulled out the item he was given before he left the circle of greed. The rest of the Konoha ninjas then circled him to take a look at the interesting gift.

"How does it work Naruto-kun?" asked Lee who was closely probing the compass. Upon inspection the compasses arrow was spinning in circles with no sign of stopping. At this sight, everyone was beginning to think the device was broken.

The blond ninja examined the compass and started to think about what Bishamon had told him earlier. "_Where my heart guides it huh_" thought Naruto. He then closed his eyes and pictured where he wanted to go "_Hinata_"

Immediately the arrow became rigid at it pointed straight indicating the direction they needed to go. Everyone then looked in the said direction.

"I'm not sure if we can trust it" said Shikamaru who was still cynical of the fourth guardian

"It'll be fine" smiled Naruto trying to inspire trust into his shadow companion.

"But what if that device just leads us into a trap?" said Shikamaru

"It wouldn't really matter since this is hell remember. Just standing here is a trap in itself. So as long we keep moving we'll be fine right" interjected Sakura

The shadow ninja then had nothing more to say as that logic was pretty accurate. But either way the luxury of trust was not exactly something they could afford here within the domain of hell.

The Konoha ninjas then began their trip deeper into the circle following the guidance of the compass. They soon came upon a bay with boats anchored at the shore. At viewing the site, the team was forced to take three boats with groups of two in each. Now as they sailed down the river going deeper into the circle everyone came to the understanding that if there was a physical representation of gloomy and depressing then this area would perfectly describe it. For the setting was similar to that of a swamp which had the look, feel, and smell of one but much worse by many folds. Additionally the river they were sailing on was not actually composed of water, but of souls. The Konoha ninjas looked to see as the souls they sailed over moaned in agony to the state they were in. Furthermore a few souls had attempted to climb aboard but fortunately were too weak to do so.

"What is this?" asked Naruto as he viewed the lost soul's latest attempt in climbing in

Sakura looked down in sorrow. "This is the River Styx. This is the place where souls that were so full of hate are punished to spend the rest of their existence until the end of time" she then gave a sigh. "It's quite sad really to see that their current existence is the reflection of how they lived, drowning in their own arrogance"

Naruto then too looked at the lost with sorrow. Just as Jiraiya, Nagato, and his father had said, the cycle of hate is something that is nearly impossible to break. It was sad to see how a person who lived their entire lives full of wrath would end up like this in the end.

"Keep sharp, we're getting closer to shore now" said Shikamaru

Soon enough the three boats arrived on land only to meet an incredible sight in front of them. Before team Naruto now was a city which practically looked as big or even bigger then Konoha in every way. On the outside of this city was a great big fortress like wall which had the appearance of something that has been there for quite a sometime which had also suffered from burn and erosion damage. Plus from where they were standing, the city looked like a giant ruin as some of the seeable structures looked deteriorated and broken down. But more so then that, the entire area was the very common definition to what most people believed hell to be. The air around them reeked of burning flesh and sulfur, the perceivable sky or ceiling to be more accurate and much of the surroundings were painted in flames. Whatever wasn't lit in fire was black in brimstone.

"Incredible" said Neji as he viewed the area with his Byakugan. "It seems to be an actual working city. Who knew something like this was here"

"What do you mean?" asked Tenten

Neji then scrunched his eyes to get a better look. "It almost seems like a city life in there. Although if I had to say, the cities system of order seems like anarchy as I can see a lot of fighting going on. However nothing too serious from what I can tell"

"We should get moving now" then said Shikamaru. "Naruto, what does the compass say?"

Naruto then looked down to the octagonal instrument seeing it point towards the city. "It seems the gate to the next circle is in there. So we'll have to go in". Everyone gave a nod to this.

However the walk to the city wasn't going to be easy as it had a long bridge with many twists and turns to it which seemed to stretch for many miles long. Additionally, the bridge was suspended over a deep chasm of a void to which no light could possibly ever penetrate. But before they could attempt to cross the bridge they first needed to deal with their current dilemma.

"It's an ambush!" exclaimed Naruto as monsters from the previous circles started to appear around them. Furthermore a new monster was now going to make its appearance before the group as it was the minion of this circle.

"What are they?" asked Lee who was looking at the new recruits. The beasts before them now were a more watered down version of what Lucifer looked like. This monster was a hulking giant standing at eight feet with black skin, four symmetrical horns on its head varying in size, razor sharp teeth, and blood red eyes. However each of them varied with appearance by virtue of their equipment. Some of them carried swords while others carried axes and spears. Also a few of them wore elaborate armor while some of the others carried shields, but that varied amongst them. With the roar of the leader of the pack the struggle began once again for the ninjas of Konoha.

Now of course the battle was difficult since they were fighting multiple monsters at once. But what really put them at a disadvantage was their fatigue. Physically everyone was OK to fight. However their stamina and chakra reserves had not quite recovered from their last encounter in the previous circle. Although a soldier pill did help out quite a bit, the team still had to obey the law of diminishing return in which the pills effectiveness will dwindle bit by bit over time. But out of the entire group Sakura had it the worst since she was the only medic there which meant she had the use up the most energy trying to maintain the team. So in that regard Lee and Tenten had to stay behind to protect her rather than eliminate the enemy forces.

Meanwhile everyone else was busy doing their best in giving the other group as much time to allow their pink companion to recover from her chakra exhaustion. The Byakugan and bug user took the front of the situation while the later two took care of any stragglers which got past them while the others provided support.

However one the brutes that had managed to get by Neji and Shino forced Naruto to deal with it. The blond ninja raced forward with kunai in hand ready to stab the monster. As the brute lunged forward with his spear, Naruto half-stepped and kept moving forward plunging his blade into the monsters stomach area. With the forward momentum, he had managed to knock the beast onto his back. Simultaneously, Naruto pulled out a sutra paper intending on planting it on the monsters head to vaporize and kill it. But the brute manage to catch his arm before the attack landed. Naruto could definitely feel how strong it was as he was pushing with all his might while his opponent didn't seem to be struggling at all. Eventually he could feel his arm being pushed back, and soon enough he got kneed in the stomach. The attack forced him five feet into the air to which the brute followed up with a hard right punch to the face.

Naruto was then sent flying back several feet. He soon got up but was quite wobbly from the intensity of the punishment. The brute also got to his feet and picked his spear up. At seeing the blond recover the monster took aim with his weapon and threw it like a javelin.

The blond seeing the impending danger was not able to move out of the way in time. For it wasn't the fact he was too slow or his reaction time was sluggish. But it was due to an internal problem to why now he was paralyzed in place.

"_Damn it!_" thought Naruto, for the Kyubbi had to choose now of all times to try and break free. Due to the demon foxes interference his bodies motor function was left in a mess which made Naruto watch as his doom came closer and closer in a form of a demonic looking spear.

Upon impact the spear pierced right through his chest shooting its way through the other side. Following the incredible amount of linear momentum his entire body was forced to follow as it flew past the shore and right into the River Styx.

"Naruto!" everyone screamed in unison at the horror of watching their friend end up like that. But this was the least of their problems.

"_Fading . . . . fading into darkness_" thought Naruto as he began to close his eyes as the souls of the river began to take him. "_**Now it's my turn**_" said the Kyubbi as the concentrated wrath of the river gave it the final push it needed to take over.

In that moment a blast of red orange aura lit up surface of the river. Slowly Naruto began to resurface until he was completely standing on the surface. He then began to slowly open his eyes revealing the slits they had now taken.

Everyone still fighting on the shore whether it was enemy or ally felt the intensity and dread of the evil chakra. In regards to this everyone wondered whose side was this person on.

The brute that had pierced Naruto earlier gawked at the new sight before him. For the monster had never felt something this evil except from the masters of this world. But before he could think any more of it the brute felt an intense pain course through its body. As it began to look down, the mortal he had skewered moments ago had just skewered him as a part of his arm went through his body. On his back, his heart could clearly be seen within Naurto's hands. Immediately the jinchuriki fusion retracted his hand vindicating the monsters death, and it was from there the slaughter began.

Naruto had now formed two tails as he began to slash away at the enemy forces. Now the enemy began their attack as well believing that such a human was far too arrogant to take them on all by himself. But they were in for it as Naruto was cutting through ten to twenty of them with every swig he made. Luckily a gluttony monster had managed to spew out a form of mucus to capture the fox-human hybrid.

"Naruto!" yelled out his teammates as they had retreated to the side to both recuperate and not get caught up in Naruto's rampage.

Just then the enemy forces rallied everything they had to stop this demon for good. At first the attack seemed successful as Naruto appeared to be on the edge of death. Blood had painted his entire body as he was completely mangled and mutilated from all the attacks that had connected with him. However the monsters moment of relief was short lived as the blond then grew a third tail instantly regenerating any wound he had taken. With his new upgrade in power, the jinchuriki broke out of his bonds and continued the slaughter once more.

The rest of team Naruto was mixed with both awe and shock at the sight. Naruto was easily cleaning up as enemy after enemy fell before his might. But there was no sense of mercy during this brawl as even the fleeing demons were slain even as a few begged for leniency. After a gruesome few minutes of carnage the battlefield was silent.

Now the one thought on everyone's mind was who was in control? Naruto or the Kyubbi?

"Naruto, is that you?" asked Sakura as she began to walk up to her blond teammate followed by everyone else.

Naruto who heard this began to slowly turn around. However he would not be the one in control as now a fourth tail grew into place. "Naruto!" exclaimed Sakura as the once sunny ninja began to take his human-demon form. After the complete metamorphosis the Kyubbi roared which sent the team flying back a few feet.

"Damn! I knew this would happen" said Shikamaru

"Naruto-kun!" said Lee unable to believe the view in front of him

"Snap out of it Naruto!" said Tenten wishing not to fight against her comrade

However words were now beyond meaning as the Kyubbi began its assault of the Konoha ninjas. Shino and Tenten were up first trying to stall it with distance attacks. But the Kyubbi's chakra armor was far too strong to be damaged by non-lethal attacks. Sakura then broke off a giant piece of rock and threw it at her old teammate. However its effectiveness was reduced to zero as the Kyubbi blew the chunk into nothing more than dust.

The Kyubbi then launched his counter by shooting his fist which zigzagged hitting his three opponents in one go. Lee then came in with a flying side kick, but had no effect as the Kyubbi slowly turned his head and whacked the green beast away.

Shikamaru and Neji understood that if they planned to survive this then they had to attack to kill.

"_I'm sorry Naruto_" thought the shadow nin as he prepared his shadow sewing and neck binding technique. As he launched his move he was able to capture the Kyubbi completely binding his limbs and tails. But such a task proved difficult as the overwhelming power of the fox demon was a struggle for Shikamaru to maintain his technique. He then got to work by attempting to penetrate the Kyubbi's chest armor with shadow sewing. For the plan was as soon as he made an opening Neji would finish it by completely destroying Naruto chakra coil system. Although this wouldn't kill him it would destroy his ability to ever be a ninja again.

However the plan was too premature as Kyubbi then grew a fifth tail closing his chest armor and receiving another upgrade in power. Shikamaru and Neji were then flung back by the sheer force the demon foxes aura had alone.

Kyubbi becoming weary of this tiresome battle decided to finish off the human pests in one devastating move. The demon fox then began to open his mouth wide generating and condensing a large amount of energy for his chakra cannon. The Konoha ninjas could only stare in horror at the prospect of being killed by the person they considered their close friend.

"Toad Oil Bullet!"

Out of nowhere a stream of slime hit the foxes mouth as he had just eaten the condensed ball of chakra. Now with his mouth sealed the ball had no choice but to explode inside of him. The explosion resulted in the fox sustaining heavy damage requiring it some time to regenerate.

The albino haired man not wasting anytime got to work on trying to revert the Kyubbi back into Naruto. He started to go through multiple complex seals while quickly writing up sutras that were needed for the process. Meanwhile everybody looked up in shock to see who their savior was while a few of them rubbed their eyes to make certain it was actually him.

After a few seconds more of preparation the albino haired man performed his technique. "Sacred Toad Seal technique" as he placed multiple seal sutras on the Kyubbi's seal to which the demon fox started to scream as he was being sucked back into his cage. Within a window of a few seconds the once demonic screams started to sound more human until the evil armor was completely cleaved off just leaving a blond boy behind.

Sakura then got up and went to work by cleaning the slime off the boys face while supporting his head on her lap. Soon after Naruto began to come too as his eyes began to open and close as his mind slipped in and out of consciousness. He finally looked up to Sakura with curiosity in his eye.

"What happened?" groaned Naruto while rubbing his head

The pink kunoichi looked down in sorrow. "You went fox form again" she said bluntly

Naruto's eyes shot open in shock. He then sat up while catching his face in his hands. "_Did I . . . . did I really do that?_" he thought

He then looked up to see how all his friends were pretty roughed up from the encounter they had with his demonic form. Naruto then looked down in frustration before closing his eyes. "I'm sorry guys, I couldn't control it . . . . "

Shikamaru then grunted before scratching the back of his head. "I told you damn well that this would happen" he then sighed. "But it's fine that everything turned out like this"

Naruto then looked up to see the relieved smiles of his group as they were all happy not to have killed or be killed by their friend.

The blond then gave a solemn look before giving a smile of his own glad that no one died when he went rouge.

He then had a realization. "How did you guys get me back?" Naruto asked

In that moment everyone parted way to reveal their albino haired savior who was standing behind the group. As soon as they parted the man waved his hand "Yo, it's been a while brat"

Naruto's eyes bulged at who was standing there. He couldn't believe that man was actually here and had saved him and all his friends. "Ero-sannin?!"

Jiraiya then had a sour face. "You'll never stop calling me that will y . . . offff" and without finishing his sentence the blond ninja hugged the old man. "I'm so happy to see you again ero-sannin" said Naruto as tears began to leave his eyes.

The toad sage scoffed at this and patted his apprentice on the head. "You turned out alright kid. I'm proud of how much you've grown in the short time I've been away"

Naruto's eyes then snapped open as he then backed away looking over the toad sage with scrutiny. "Why are you here?" he asked

"Hmm, well I've been watching over you all since I've passed away" said Jiraiya while scratching the back of his head. The old man then gave his head a quick shake, "Anyways I've been watching your group since you've entered this world. I had a strong theory that something like this would happen so I had to come here"

"But how are you here Jiraiya-sama?" then asked Sakura

"I'm currently using a specialized seal with some chakra I managed to scrape together up there" as he pointed up, "to be here within this space-time of where you are. But unfortunately due to my recent stunt I've dramatically reduced my time. So I can't be here for much longer, but I'll try to help out as much as I can"

"Ooohhhh, so that's it" said Naruto as if he just had an epiphany

The old sannin then looked to his former pupil with contempt. "What do you mean by that?" he said jabbing his pointing finger at Naruto's forehead

During this time Naruto gave one of his thinking faces as he began to say what was on his mind. "Honestly when I saw you here I thought you were a resident of hell"

"What?!" exclaimed Jiraiya in disbelief. "Why would you think that?!"

Naruto then waved one of his fingers up. "Well first off we saw you here in this world so what did you expect us to think". The toad sage then had to agree with that first bit of logic. "And second you broke the three sacred shinobi laws"

"shinobi laws?" asked Lee

Naruto turned towards Lee, "ero-sannin once told me a ninja must always avoid money, alcohol, and women. But he's done all three and is still a repeat offender"

Jiraiya sweat dropped at this. "Are you sure you went to heaven?" asked Naruto

The old sannin face smacked himself. "Just look at the glowing white light around me OK. That's proof enough that I went to heaven alright! So stop questioning if I should be in hell!"

The teen ninjas were shocked at the sudden outburst, but then nodded in show that they believed him. "Alright then let's go!" he said as he began to march grumpily towards the bridge.

Now as the group began their long pain staking walk across the seemingly endless bridge the city began to grow larger and larger before them. The group was also becoming curious to what a city like this is doing here. Even Sakura and her books had no references to what it was.

"This is the City of Dis" said Jiraiya as he maintained the lead of the group. Everyone then looked towards him for further explanation. "The city here in a sense is where evil lives. But before that we'll have more trouble getting through the gate as the many guardians who maintain the city just won't let anyone in"

"Then how do we get inside. The compass says our next destination is inside the city" said Naruto

Jiraiya smirked at this. "Don't worry, just leave that to me"

Soon after what seemed like endless walking they had finally reached the front gate of Dis. The gate was an overwhelming sight as they themselves appeared as fleas to it by comparison. With that in mind they could only imagine how enormous the city must be. But as they came before the entrance several ordinary men and women dressed in black robes appeared, and as they got closer they too began to approach them.

"Who goes there?' said the female leader stoically

"Humans from the living world. We've come to gain entrance into the city" answered Naruto

The women looked them all over. "Souls who do not belong here should not be here. Be gone or be removed by force" as she went to grab the sword on her waist. At that signal the rest of her group were too ready to draw their blades. With that show of hostility the Konoha ninjas got into defensive stance ready to take them on if need be. However Jiraiya stepped forward and presented the women a scroll. She opened it and gave it a glance over. Afterwards she looked up to the group. "Very well you may pass. But be wary of your choices for this city is not a pleasant place". The gate then began to open behind her and her group as it felt like an earthquake was hitting the area. After what seemed like forever the gate finally opened ending the incredible tremors. "Now proceed, and good luck"

At that notion the humans plus one ghost entered the city to which the gates closed behind them. "Will we be able to leave?" asked Neji

Jiraiya gave a wave of his hand in a motion to not worry. "Just knock on the gate, they'll let us back out after you finish what you came here to do" everyone gave a nod to this

"Jiraiya-sama, what was on the scroll?" asked Sakura

"Just the approved seal to let you all in here from the man up-stairs. As I said I've been watching over you so I came prepared" he smirked

The group gave a sweat drop to this as they all kind of sensed a bit of perversion behind that smirk. But back to business . . . .

"Naruto what does the compass say?" asked Shikamaru

The blond ninja then looked down, but was confused by its readings. "I don't know"

"You don't know?" said Shikamaru questionably

"Well here look" replied Naruto as he showed the group the compass. Upon inspection from the group they all saw as the needle on the compass was spinning erratically in circles with no sign of stopping.

Sakura then displayed a sour face. "Did you break it?"

"No" said the blond defensively

Shikamaru sighed at this. "Well whatever the case we can't find the gate standing around so let's go collect some information"

"Be careful" then said Jiraiya. "The city is OK to venture so long as you're wary of your surroundings". He then pointed towards the tallest building in the city. "In half an hour we'll meet there got it?" to which everyone nodded and soon dispersed to collect information on the whereabouts of the next gate.

Now with the team separated, Naruto began to wonder the City of Dis curious on who exactly to ask about the gates location. He thought about it for a while as he saw many public facilities. But none of them seem too friendly as fights almost instantly broke out at the drop of a pin. So gaining information from them was a waste of time. He folded his arms behind his head wondering how everyone else was doing. As he continued to walk absentmindedly he ended up bumping into someone along his path. Coming back to his senses Naruto looked to see that the individual had fallen onto the ground. So out of habit he bent down to help the person back up. Upon first glance he definitely knew that the individual was female, but who the person was would shock him the most.

"Thank you Naruto-kun" said the girl

Naruto's eyes bulged at who the person was before him. "Hinata?!" he exclaimed, but to say the least he was ecstatic to have found her finally.

"Hinata we were so worried about you" said Naruto as he instinctively hugged her at that moment. In reaction the Hyuga girl blushed but not quite as deep as she normally would. "We've come to rescue you. So let's hurry up and get out of here"

However her eyes then trailed down at that statement. "Naruto-kun I can't leave. Something here is keeping my existence bound to this place" said Hinata in a sad tone

"What?!" said Naruto as he released his hug and looked her in the eye while maintaining his hands on her shoulder. But something didn't seem right when he looked into them. At this moment decided to disregard it for now.

Hinata's eyes then began to shy away as they normally did whenever they would talk. "There is a specific room within one of these buildings which binds me here. If you can destroy the seal I'll be able to leave and go back to living world"

At hearing this news Naruto jumped up in excitement. "I'll go get everyone, we might need everyone's help on this one" as he started to run off. But before getting far enough, Hinata had grabbed his arm.

"There isn't much time. If we don't go now the seal will move and no one will be able to find it before it moves again. Naruto I know you can do it for me" Hinata said pleadingly

The blond ninja then understood the circumstances as he looked to the Hyuga girl with more seriousness in his eyes. "Where to?" he asked

Hinata's face then lit up. "This way" she said as she began to tow the Uzumaki in the direction of the room.

The two then reached a hotel like structure as they went in and began to ascend the stairs. After climbing a few stories they finally reached the said room Hinata was talking about. "Here it is" she said, "if you can destroy the seal I'll be able to leave here". The Hyuga heiress then opened the door to which Naruto ran inside hoping the seal was still there for him to destroy in order to free his friend.

However there was no such thing as all Naruto could see in the room was a bed with blood red sheets surrounded by many oddly scented candles. He then heard the door close behind him and lock. The blond turned around to see Hinata standing in front of the door with her hands behind her still holding the knob. Furthermore her eyes were shadowed underneath her bangs.

"Hinata, what's going on?" he asked as he was confused to why she would bring him here. It then lit inside his head. "Oh no, I was too late. The seal has already moved!"

The Hyuga heiress began to darkly chuckle at this. "My Naruto-kun, so honest yet so gullible"

"What?" said Naruto

"There was never any seal. It was just simply a story to bring you here" answered Hinata as she looked at him with a very creepy smirk

"Why would you bring me here then?" asked Naruto

Hinata slowly but sensually trotted her way towards the Uzumaki while still maintaining her smirk. "To have you make love to me of course"

At that statement Naruto was in complete shock as his mouth hung open with his eyes turning into saucers. But he quickly got a hold of himself although not completely. "Hinata wha . . . wha . . . . what are you talking about?!" he stuttered as he tried to maintain his ability to talk. Also unknowingly he was starting to retreat back towards the bed bit by bit.

Hinata who was now pretty much at point black to him placed her finger onto his lips to keep him from speaking again. She then slowly trailed it down to his jacket zipper and began to unzip. Naruto at this point was barely hanging in there. For one thing, he has never been picked up by a girl before so this was rather foreign territory to him. Furthermore this was Hinata he was talking about. The sweet, innocent, and nice girl he had known since he was a child.

"_How soft_" thought Naruto as he felt his captor's well endowed chest press against him while she removed his jacket. His face during the situation flared into a blush as his body was completely frozen stiff from the event. "Hi . . . . Hinata we shouldn't be doing this" stuttered Naruto as he saw the girl look at him as if he were red meat.

But his words feel on deaf ears as she then pushed the panicked boy onto the bed. She soon followed up by sensually crawling onto him until she firmly had mounted his waist area. Now that Hinata had Naruto's full and undivided attention the frantic shinobi finally took notice to what Hinata was wearing. The Hyuga heiress was dressed in a very revealing and very suggestive black night gown. Furthermore she also wore a black and white striped knee high socks. On her left forearm was a dark ribbon which was wrapped on in a crisscross pattern with a bow at the end. Additionally her bangs were folded back by a skull hairpin. Upon closer inspection the gown was partly see through as Hinata was wearing some really sexy lingerie. However she wasn't wearing a bra underneath.

"_I never knew that Hinata could be this sexy_" thought the blond ninja. But he immediately mentally smacked himself as he remembered this was a mission as he was suppose to be rescuing her. Although he couldn't deny how irresistible she had become at the moment.

Hinata then leaned forward giving her lover a good feel of her body as she was now face to face with him only inches away from a kiss. "Naruto-kun I had always loved you and for the longest time my body has been longing to have you inside of me. It wasn't until I came to this place that I could fully express myself before you now"

At this point Naruto was fighting a three-way battle which challenged him on the base of him being a friend, a ninja, and a man. His friend side wanted to talk some sense into her as he was aware that she wasn't in her right frame of mind. The ninja portion strictly focused on the mission as now it was just finding a way to extract her. But his man side just wanted to ravage her for all hell to hear for all he cared.

Hinata then pushed herself up to which her weight was now focused on the blonds' waist again. She then slowly began to push off the shoulder straps allowing them to slide down her arm. However she crossed her arms around her chest to keep them from being revealed just yet. Naruto was now fighting an uphill battle to not give into his instincts, but it was barely hanging in there.

A pleading look then came to the Hyuga's facial expression. "Please Naruto-kun, make love to me"

Naruto's mind was in a dead lock about what he should do. However his heart and good will was something he would never betray. He then sat up to hug the Hyuga girl. Hinata blushed at the sudden embrace, but his answer was not the thing she wanted to hear.

"Hinata, this isn't the real you" said Naruto as he paused before speaking again. "The real Hinata I had come to care for is a warm, nice, and innocent girl who would always put others before herself. But all I see in you now is a callous person who is lost within the darkness." He then held her tighter, "So please Hinata, please return to the person you used to be"

At that statement the Hyuga heiress looked as if she was coming close to tears, but it was immediately replaced by a dark expression. She then forced Naruto back down onto the bed as she pinned his arms. "That's OK, I'll just take what I want from you" said Hinata darkly

She then used her gentle fist style to numb both his arms to make sure he couldn't resist. Hinata then got to work on trying to unzip his pants. "Don't worry Naruto-kun, I'll make sure you feel exceptionally good"

"Hinata! Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait!" exclaimed Naruto as he was now in a state of panic

"Oi Naruto, are you in here?"

The said ninja tilted his head to see the unexpected but gladly welcomed guest. "Ero-sannin!"

Jiraiya looked to see his former apprentice about to undergo some serious action with a very hot looking thing. A happy face was soon etched on as a twinkle shined in his eye while he extended his arm giving his former pupil a thumb up. All the while the toad sage gained a slight nose bleed from the perverted thought he just had.

"This isn't the time for that!" shouted Naruto as he was in disbelief at how up in the cloud his master was in

"You don't want to make love to me do you?" asked Hinata in a sad expression

"Well yes, I mean no, no I mean it's kind of yes but mostly no ahhhh" to which Naruto honestly didn't understand how to answer the question.

"I see what I have to do now" said Hinata as her eyes once again became shadowed

"Huh?" replied Naruto

"I just have to get rid of the competition and then you shall be mine" she said as she stood up. A dark aura then surrounded her. Moments later her once sexy outfit was replaced with garments used for war. Hinata then disappeared in a puff of black smoke to places unknown.

"Where did Hinata go?!" said Naruto

"That was Hinata!" said Jiraiya who was shocked at the prospect of that women being the Hyuga girl who was well known to be the shyest person in the world.

The blond shook his head. He soon got the feeling of his arms back as he contemplated what Hinata was talking about. But it then hit him like a thousand bricks. "Sakura!"

* * *

~Central Tower (the planned meeting spot)~

"Where is Jiraiya-sama?" asked Sakura "He's been gone for quite a while now"

"Well Naruto-kun didn't come back on the appointed time. So Jiraiya-sama went off to look for him" answered Lee. "But he has been gone for a while"

"I don't like all this waiting around" said Shikamaru

"Hmm this is becoming nerve wrecking" added in Tenten. "We should be out there looking for them"

"No, we should wait here just as we planned" replied Neji. "If we try to look for them we'll only succeed in wasting time"

"True, Naruto has the compass. So it would be better if we stay here" said Shino

"Hmm, I guess you're right" said Tenten. But then out of the corner of her eye she spots someone approaching them. "Who's there?!" the weapon mistress demanded

Then out from the shadows emerged the very person they came to rescue

"Hinata!" said everyone in unison

Tenten then walked up to her. "We were so worried about you, are you OK?"

However Hinata pushed her aside as she made her intentions quite clear on what she wanted. "I'm here for the pink b**ch. If you get in my way I'll kill you"

"Hinata-sama! What has gotten into you?!" asked Neji frantically. But the discussion had clearly ended as Hinata began her attack on the group.

Her first target was Lee as he was the first to stand in her way. "Please don't make us fight you" pleaded Lee as he got into fighting stance. However the battle was short lived as Hinata used a vacuum space attack to force him aside

Next to come were Neji and Tenten in their attempt to stop her. The weapon mistress not wanting to harm her summoned up several chain like weapons to restrain her. But it proved ineffective as a flex from her dark aura broke it apart sending Tenten back. Neji then dashed in planning to use his gentle fist to immobilize his cousin. The two Hyuga's began their battle as Hinata proved to be a lot tougher than before.

"Reminds you of the chunnin exam don't it" smirked Hinata. "But I'll be the one to come out on top"

This however did not distract Neji as he continued to push harder in trying to stop his cousin. The Hyuga heiress then looked to him with a dark expression. "You're such a fool Neji. In the end all you'll ever be is nothing more than a slave to the main branch"

The Hyuga prodigy knew better not to allow this to bother him as he knew that this wasn't the real Hinata speaking. But he hesitated long enough for her to seal his hands to which she followed up with the sealing of the rest of his bodies motor functions. "Damn it" was all he could say at that moment.

Shino and Shikamaru also valiantly tried to stop her. But to no avail as they were simply overpowered. For Shikamaru used all his shadow techniques in the attempt to immobilize her. But it proved as a failure as shadows popped out of his shadows which delivered some punishing blows forcing him to go down. Shino had also tried the same tactic by using his bugs to capture and drain her of whatever energy she had. Just like Shikamaru, it proved as a failure as the Hyuga heiress forced the bugs away to which she then went on to burst several of Shino's internal organs as he coughed out blood in the process. "Your bugs were always so disgusting" was all she said as she walked by him.

Finally arriving at her inttended target her dark aura formed a blade ready to skewer anything in its path. Now within distance Hinata lunged forward aiming for the heart of the pink haired kunoichi. But Sakura barely managed to do a naked hand block as she struggled to keep the blade away from her. "Hinata, snap out of it! This isn't like you!"

But the Hyuga's eyes then glared daggers at her. "Naruto-kun has only ever had eyes for you. Even after my confession he never said a word to me leaving me to wonder what I did wrong". Hinata then flung Sakura to an opposing building engraving her into the wall. "If you're gone then Naruto-kun will only have eyes for me!" as she then dashed forward to deliver the finishing blow.

"Stop!"

In that instant the blade stopped just centimeters away from going through Naruto's chest as he was now standing in front of the semi-unconscious kunoichi.

The blade then dissipated as sadness began to consume Hinata again. "So you would choose her over me" and with that she disappeared again.

"Wait! Hinata!" said Naruto as he extended his arm out to grab her, but missed by a few seconds. "What happened to you?"

Soon after Naruto began collecting his friends along with Jiraiya's assistance to begin healing them. For with the encounter with dark Hinata no one could believe that such a sweet person could have become so evil like that as they discussed what they should to do. In the end it was more or less passed off as a "when we cross that bridge" moment. Now after a good amount of time the group was able to move again. The team then looked to Naruto for directions as his compass began to point the way. Earlier the instrument was non-functional because Hinata was close by to which caused the tool the act the way it did. Eventually the team arrived at the gate ready to cross into the next circle of hell.

"Will things be OK?" asked Lee as he was now worried for the success of this mission

"It'll be fine. We'll definitely bring the real Hinata back" answered Naruto

Neji who was still feeling the paralysis and needing Tenten's shoulder for support then gave his two cents. "We should hurry, but first we need to decide who needs to keep the gate open here"

At that statement Shino proceeded to open the gate and sit against the door in reply to Neji. "My insides are a bit too messed up to keep going. So I'll stay here to make sure you cross the gate when you get back". Everyone gave a nod to this as they began the descent. But the toad sage did not move.

"This is as far as I can go" said Jiraiya.

"What?" said Naruto as he looked back towards his former master

"Sorry squirt, I've already used up all my chakra so I can't maintain my form in this world anymore" said Jiraiya

"But what happens is the fox gets free again?!" exclaimed Naruto

The toad sage who was starting to fade away gave his godson a solemn look. "Don't worry about it. I've already set it up that the Kyubbi will be completely suppressed until you leave hell. But so long as you keep it that way the seal will be fine."

Naruto then gave Jiraiya a bright a smile. "Well I guess I'll see you again some other time"

"Yeah, some other time" said Jiraiya. "Good Luck on the rest of your mission and stay safe" and with those final words Jiraiya vanished as Naruto turned around and proceeded with his team into the next circle of hell.

* * *

~9th Circle – Treachery~

Within the frozen wastelands, the master of hell watched pleasingly on how entertaining it was to torment the humans by corrupting the soul they had come to rescue. But the master understood that they would eventually come to its level in retribution for what it did. So the dark one sat quietly in expectation waiting for the time they would arrive into the frozen darkness of the ninth circle.

"Let's see how you'll entertain me until you get here" snickered the master as it continued to watch the progress the humans made within the evil domains of hell.

* * *

Author's notes: I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. But anyways Hinata's personality has been more or less flipped. So her current self is more or less the exact mirror to how the original Hinata would act in most situations. But yeah once again I hope everyone had a good time in reading this chapter.

So I thank you for your time in reading this fic and further extend my gratitude if you can review it as well.


	7. Heresy

Chapter 7: Sixth Circle – Heresy

Synopsis: Heresy is the sixth circle of hell to which it is home to those who were heretics in life. These people are ones who turned their back on the higher path or chose to believe is something much less divine. But in this circle the beliefs of a particular shadow ninja is going to be tested in which he will have to face an old foe from the past.

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Naruto franchise or characters associated with it. I also do not own any part of the 14th century Italian divine comedy Dante's Inferno.

"talking"

_thoughts_

_

* * *

_~9th Circle – Treachery~

Hinata sat quietly on the edge of the void thinking about all that had happened thus far. She had just tried to assault the love of her life, hurt all of her friends, and had attempted to kill Sakura. After this incident a few thoughts began to jumble around in her mind. The first thought was why Naruto always chose Sakura over herself. Was it because of her body? Her personality? Or simply he just didn't like her as a woman? But as these thoughts swirled around in her head something important made itself known to her subconscious.

"_What have I done?_" thought the Hyuga heiress as shock began to settle into her features. At thinking it over she had just harmed the people closest to her and by her perception everyone who even cared she existed. Hinata then clasped her hands over her face at what she had done. Then slowly tears began to leak out as soft sobs can be heard.

"I have to fix this" said Hinata as she wiped the tears off. She then stood up and was about to go to her friends. But unfortunately she was a little too late to go anywhere.

"And where do you think you're going?" said the master as it gripped a hand over Hinata's throat. In retaliation the young kunoichi attempted to burst the chakra points in the master's arm, but unfortunately it was to no effect. The fallen deity soon lifted the Hyuga off the ground while still maintaining its hold.

"It seems there is still a bit of light inside of you. But no matter I'll snuff it out soon enough" said the master as Hinata was once again was consumed inside the darkness hell.

The fallen deity released its grasp while folding its arms in. "I can't have you running off yet. You're still needed for their grand appearance here. You'll be the one to finish off your friends." The master then licked its lips. "What a delicious moment that'll be"

* * *

~6th Circle – Heresy~

The remnants of team Naruto were still recovering from the attack they just encountered. But it wasn't the hoards of demons or the evil vibe of this world which wore down the Konoha ninjas. Instead it was the attack by the very person they came here to rescue. Naruto and co. had not yet gotten over being attacked by Hinata. Even worse, her attacks had left wounds to which no soldier pill or healing technique could recover.

As they walked, Neji had a slight frown on his face at remembering what his cousin had just said to him moments ago. However he quickly shook his head at the thought. "_No, Hinata-sama would never say such things_." Since the two year gap that Naruto had been away the Hyuga heiress and her father have done much to make him feel more like family then a slave. But it was with much difficulty as some of the main branch still treated him otherwise. For Neji knew that Hinata, the real Hinata would never say such cruel things. However he could not deny that there was some truth behind his cousin's words.

"_Hinata_" thought Naruto for he was at a loss of reason to what he should do. The guilt that the blond ninja carried had now seemed to have gotten heavier to witnessing to what have become of the Hyuga heiress. "_How can I make this right?_" thought Naruto over and over again. Not only has he been hurting Hinata heart with his lack of resolve, but now she was stuck in this horrible place because of him. Back within the City of Dis the Hyuga heiress had made herself quite clear at how long and how much she had wanted him. But at this point in time Naruto could not concern himself with such a thing as his primary focus was just to save her. He then patted his stomach, "_I just hope this holds up_." Naruto then pictured the old Hinata in his mind, "_please come back to us_"

But out of the group a certain pink kunoichi was taking it the hardest. The words Hinata had said cut her deeper than any weapon or jutsu could ever do. She along with many other people had always known how Hinata felt about Naruto. But what really put the icing on the cake for her was what she did in order to take Naruto off of Sasuke trail. "_I really am a horrible person._" But a moment later their thought processes was interrupted as the shadow nin spoke up as they approached the sixth circle of hell.

"We've arrived. Stay alert who knows what we'll encounter here in this domain" said Shikamaru

Now after taking the final step they crossed into the threshold of Heresy. If they thought Greed and Wrath were hot then this place was scorching. The entire domain seemed to be lit in flames, and the only area which wasn't on fire was the bridge they stood on. However just standing around began to cook their feet from right under. As the group glanced around, the relative structure of the place resembled that of a catacomb with a near infinite number of tombs accompanied by a near infinite number of damned burning within them. However another defining thing about this circle was the intense smell of burning flesh. The odor would make even the strongest stomach individual want to vomit. But there was no time for that as the group had more important things to do.

Sakura stood forward surveying the surrounding area. "This is the circle of Heresy. This place is where heretics are sent after they die." The pink kunoichi then looked to a nearby sinner. "However in their case their body is sent with them to forever burn within the flames of their sin"

"Well we better hurry out of here or the heat will cause us some major problems. Naruto which way?" said Shikamaru

The blond ninja then pulled the compass out of his pocket and took a look at it. But without even looking at the guiding tool it seemed rather pointless as there was only one path which headed straight for the other gate not to mention that it was right in sight although very far away. But Shikamaru being Shikamaru was not willing to leave things to the most obvious conclusion.

"It's just straight ahead" said Naruto as he put the compass away

"Alright let's go" said the shadow nin to which everyone began racing down the bridge to hurry and exit this circle. But as they raced down the structure the entire hall appeared to be like a museum of heretics. As they ran by Konoha ninjas saw names inscribed on every casket they passed. Although there were a few names that once belonged to prominent people in history, it didn't really matter as getting out of this circle was far more important than viewing historical celebrities as they were burning a few feet away from them. But finally after what seemed like an eternity of running they reached the gate to the other side. However they would not be crossing as easily as they believed.

"There's no guardian here" said Tenten as she looked over the area. "How strange"

"This might be a trap. Stay on your guard" said Neji as he too began to look around.

Naruto who was also on guard began to look around as well. "There is no way it could be this easy. What do you think Shikamaru? . . . . Shikamaru?" said Naruto as he looked to the team strategist. But upon appearance it seemed the shadow nin was shaking. "Is there something wrong?"

"It can't be!" he replied. Naruto then took notice of what he was looking at to which it appeared to be an empty casket. However the name was still clearly written on it. The blond then took a closer look to only be just as shocked as Shikamaru was to whom the name belonged too.

* * *

~9th Circle – Treachery~

"How interesting" said the master as it watched the spectacle that was about to unfold in heresy. But its attention was soon cut short as more urgent news came in.

"Master, the intruder from earlier has safely crossed the outer ring and is beginning to cross through the middle ring. In a matter of moments he'll reach the center and cross through to the eighth circle" said a shadow servant as it kneeled

"Is that so" said the fallen deity as it waved its hand changing the view to violence.

* * *

~7th Circle – Violence~

The intruder having just left the outer ring began making his way through the middle ring. However such a task was beginning to become rather troublesome as the ring was composed entirely of a forest. But the forest itself was not composed of plant life; no instead it was composed of human souls who took their own lives while still living on Earth. This place was known as suicide forest where humans who had taken their own lives must stay as they grow in the form brushes and trees while each day harpies eat away at them.

"Annoyances" said the intruder as many of the damned were grabbing him and begging him for sweet release from this world. But in response the intruder pulled out his sword and severed any branches that dared touch him. At such an action, blood began to spill forth from their wounds which gave an example for every tree along the invader's path not to get in his way as he would only make them suffer more rather than kill them.

* * *

~9th Circle – Treachery~

"So this is the human that came here first" said the master as it smirked with interest. "But I can't have him coming here just yet. I sense a former connection between him and the other humans. But I also sense deep malice directed at them." The master then had an intriguing idea. "I want to see them meet, but we'll first have to keep him occupied"

The dark one with another wave of its hand searched through infinite for the right soul to keep the previous intruder at bay. Momentarily it found the perfect soul to do just that and saw how delicious it would be for this damned to keep the intruder occupied. So with a flick of its fingers that soul was revived and ready to fight.

"Listen well slave, for there is a human closing in on your area. Since he is the reason you are here in the first place this would be the perfect opportunity for retribution" said the master

The blond man having heard those words could only smirk at the idea of revenge. "I'm going to enjoy this"

* * *

~6th Circle – Heresy~

"I thought that guy was immortal?" exclaimed Naruto as he rubbed his eyes to make certain that was the name written on the coffin

"There's no mistaking it. He's here" growled Shikamaru

Immediately a high pitched laughter can be heard as a corpse began climbing his way onto the bridge. Although the being before them had no identifiable marks or a face to speak of, Shikamaru knew who this man was simply by looking at his eyes. The shadow nin's body then started to tremble with rage at seeing his ugly hide again.

"Why are you here?" demanded Shikamaru

The corpse laughed as parts of his body began to regenerate. However most of his body still looked like a rotting corpse with several flames still lit on him. "I was never alive or dead in the first place. As I gave my soul to Jashin I exist now as a true immortal in both this world and the living world. Now that you're here I can fulfill my promise by sacrificing your soul to the one true god!" said Hidan to which a huge demon covered in fire and darkness materialized right behind the zombie man. Hidan then turned to his deity, "My lord, please be patient I shall serve his soul to you along with his blood and carcass to accompany it"

"It would be wise to work together on this one" suggested Neji. "We don't know what he is capable of and should hang back to see what he does"

Everyone nodded to this idea. However Shikamaru had other plans.

"Stay out this! This bastard is mine!" stated the shadow nin as he pulled out his kunai

"This isn't the time for stupid male bravado. We need to work together on this one!" said Sakura

"No! I want this creep all to myself! And I don't want any of you to interfere" snapped Shikamaru

"Shikamaru-kun" quietly stated Lee

"This is just something I need to settle. So please let me deal with this" he then said as he stood forward ready to take on the ridiculous odds before him.

Now the rest of the team knew this was just straight up suicide to fight something like that in a disadvantage place like this. But they understood that there some things people needed to settle alone. So it was agreed upon by everyone in the group that if things got too dicey for the team strategist then they would all step in to help out. But only in the event that Shikamaru was no longer combat capable.

"You honestly think you can win you s**thead!" said Hidan. "You barely managed to hold your own when you last fought me. Plus you don't have the time now to set up any stupid traps. Although it doesn't really matter as there is no way I can be defeated now that Jashin is personally watching over me."

"So that's his f**ked up god" he said as he gave the giant a look over as it was still standing within the flames.

Shikamaru already understood he was at a few other disadvantages from the get go. First was the fact that the bridge was so narrow, so avoiding his opponent's attacks would be far more difficult. If he used that technique again he would be dead for sure. But the bigger problem was the make-up of the terrain. The fact was the entire sixth circle was painted in fire which meant that light covered the entire area in every direction. This meant that his shadow techniques maximum range has been effectively crippled.

"_This is going to be a lot more difficult than I thought_" thought Shikamaru. "_But let's first see what my opponent is capable of_"

The shadow nin began by throwing multiple kunai. However Hidan didn't even bother to move or defend as the attacks connected with him. The walking dead just simply smirked while pulling the blades out. "Do you really think such a sissy attack like that can hurt me" to which a demonic version of his original scythe began to materialize in his hand as he raced forward ready to turn his opponent into ribbons.

"_Damn_" he thought as he ducked and weaved from every slash. However sustained movement began to become more difficult due to the intense heat of the room. He then leaped over his assailant only to be sandwiched between him and his twisted god.

The monster roared as his fist came crashing down onto him to which he managed to barely jump out of the way. However the monstrosity would not give him enough time to recover as it followed up by breathing fire at him. Shikamaru immediately got up wanting to get as much distance from it as possible. But in doing so he was heading right into three familiar scythe blades.

Shikamaru at the last moment managed to evade it by dropping to his knees and slide past the zombie freak only for him to be caught up in his deities attack. The intensity of the situation had now begun to make the shadow nin sweat profusely. But things were only getting worse as his sandals were beginning to cook on the bridge they stood on. The only thing that was keeping his feet from catching on fire was the use of chakra repulsion. However that was beginning to become rather draining as he felt his stamina slip away.

"My lord if you wish to have this impudent heretic for yourself. Then I offer my vessel to you to cleanse this non-believer from your sight" smiled Hidan sinisterly. Soon enough Jashin turned into a cloud of black smoke as it jumped into his follower's body. A moment later Hidan turned around only to appear in his black skin look with red eyes and flames insignias covering every inch of his body.

But instantly the hybrid disappeared only to reappear in front of Shikamaru as he grasped him by the neck lifting him off the ground. "_**So you are the human who dared to defy me**_" said Hidan in a demonic voice.

"Shikamaru" yelled out his team as they were prepared at that moment to jump in and separate the two. But he had it under control as he stabbed his kunai right into the monsters face. Jashin yelled in pain as he backed away releasing his victim in the process. "_**That shouldn't have worked. How were you able to make me feel pain!**_" demanded the twisted god.

Shikamaru then opened his hand to reveal a sutra paper wrapped around the hilt. "Looks like even you're weak against something like this" he said. "_But the way things are now I'll most likely have to blow him a part just like last time_"

He then pulled out several kunai and shuriken labeled with a few explosive tags. "_**Don't mock me boy. Such a level of attack like that can't possibly hurt me**_" But regardless of the tip he threw them anyways as a few landed blowing up chunks of the bridge while causing some injuries to the deity only for them to recover seconds later. But then out from the smoke debris Shikamaru launched several explosive tags blowing off the demon god's leg, arm, and a section of his torso. However the deity simply used his other arm to knock him away as the once severed and missing parts dissipated only to reappear connected to his body again. "_**You take me far too lightly boy. If you thought you could defeat me the same way as you did my subject then you are going to pay dearly for it**_"

The shadow nin having seen the latest ability of his opponent needed to revise his plan. After a quick moment of thinking he came up with an idea that could theoretically work. But this all depended on the one thing his team needed for the rest of the journey down.

"Tenten, do you have any more sutra seals left?" asked Shikamaru

The weapon mistress shook her head. "No, the only ones left are the ones currently in everyone's possession"

Shikamaru face cringed a bit since there was no other way by short of a miracle. "I need the sutra papers you all have left, and I need it now!" and without question they quickly handed it over as he stored it away in his pack.

"_**Don't be ignoring me now. We're going to have the rest of eternity to spend with each other as I make you one of my devout followers**_" said Jashin as he swung away at his opponent.

Shikamaru still continued to dodge the best he could, but he could tell that this monster was only toying with him as his attacks were beginning to pick up speed. But by the way things were looking he was running low on kunai and explosive tags. So the next few moments were going to be the difference between winning or eternal damnation with this freak of nature.

"_It's now or never!_" thought Shikamaru as he pulled out the last of his arsenal and made a last ditch effort to defeat the god before him. As he began his retreat maneuver he launched every kunai he had with explosive tags attached. However some of the attacks missed as they flew past Jashin as most of them didn't even detonate.

"_**You must be becoming weary now human. Your aim wasn't this terrible moments ago**_" said the dark god mockingly. The shadow nin began to breathe heavily as the entity was right about his condition. The extreme movements in addition to the harsh environment had completely stolen his stamina. At this point in time he was pretty much at his adversary's mercy.

Shikamaru scoffed at the current conditions he was looking at. "It looks like this is pretty much the end now".

Jashin then gave a wave of his hand to which he was then lifted into the air. The demon god then began to laugh as he prepared for his final move. "_**I could have finished this long ago mortal. But you have proved yourself to be an amusing mouse**_". The dark deity then gave a wave of his hand as Shikamaru went flying back smashing into the gate rattling his body to the core. However his pain was only getting started as another wave of the demon gods hand sent him flying into the nearby catacombs forcing him to crash through multiple coffins as he was being dragged through many of them. At this point all Shikamaru could do was endure until his opponent got tired of this.

Now after a short while Jashin brought the battered and half baked ninja onto to the bridge while still keeping him suspended in the air. "_**You're quite resilient for a human." **_Jashin then gave a sinister smile,_** "If you swear your loyalty to me I shall make your death swift and also allow your friends the same fate after you**_." But the only response the monstrosity got in return was a load of spit in his face.

"You can take your crappy religion and shove it. You'll never crush my will of fire" coolly smirked Shikamaru

The god scowled at this. "_**Very well human, you shall face a horrific fate as will your friends**_" Jashin's shadow then connected to Shikamaru and soon enough the demon began to cut himself to which damage began to reflect on his victim.

"Ahhhh" screamed Shikamaru as a gash was formed across his chest

"Shikamaru!" exclaimed Naruto as the entire group immediately raced in to save their companion. However is proved futile as it appeared a barrier repelled them as they tried to get closer. But soon enough none of them were able to move as they too were lifted into the air.

"What is this?" said Lee as he began to try and struggle but to no success

"It's no use, we're trapped" then said Tenten

Jashin began to laugh maniacally at the predicament the humans were facing. "_**If you all wish to die together I have no qualms with that**_"

"I guess its game over" said Shikamaru as his eyes began to become shadowed

"_**Indeed it is**_" replied the fallen deity with an evil smile. But his flow was immediately disrupted when he started to hear his opponent laugh. "_**Does your imminent demise humor you that much boy?**_"

However Shikamaru just looked up with a smirk and gave a twitch of his fingers. "Boom"

Immediately several shadow needles shot from the ground picking up the kunai and explosive tags that didn't go off and attached themselves to their target. A moment later a detonation occurred completely blowing the god a part. However the chain event wasn't over yet as Shikamaru clasped his hands together rearranging all the left over kunai on the ground. At this point the fight was over.

The shadow nin gave a smirk as he soon collapsed to the ground. "Shikamaru" screamed his teammates as they raced to his side to help him up.

"Be careful he'll soon regenerate!" exclaimed Tenten

However Shikamaru gave chuckled to this. "Don't worry, that bastard won't be getting up anytime soon" as he pointed to what was left of his opponent

As the debris began to clear everyone was shocked to what they saw. The seemingly invincible god was nothing more than several bloody dismembered parts scattered all over the ground. But what they didn't understand was why Jashin wasn't regenerating even though he was clearly still alive as he was still yelling at them the very question they were thinking.

"_**What have you done to me you impudent human?**_" screamed Jashin as his head laid on the ground looking at them

Shikamaru gave a slight chuckle at this. "I kicked you're a** obviously. You could have killed me at any time. But because of your excessive toying it gave me what I needed to beat you"

"But how did you do it?" asked Naruto

"Look closely around him" Shikamaru simply said

After a quick look everyone immediately understood what had just occurred. "These aren't bomb tags. They're sutra seals" said Sakura

Shikamaru gave a nod to this. "It was honestly a gamble in which I didn't know if this would work on an opponent as strong as this. But in the end I guess I was lucky"

"But how did you arrange them? Your shadows couldn't work with all this light in here" said Tenten

"I was counting on this freaks ego. In order for the plan to work I needed to be point blank for the shadows to initiate" he explained. "If Jashin was anything like Hidan he would want to go face to face with me just to gloat. But that was the moment I needed to arrange the explosive tags to attach and detonate on a delayed timer. Afterwards it was just rearranging the remnants to generate a sutra net to keep this bastard from coming back"

"_**Boy! You'll pay for this! I'll make you suffer an eternity of pain for this humiliation!**_" screamed Jashin

The shadow nin scoffed at this. He soon got up while taking out the last sutra paper scrunching it up in his hand. "You really need to shut up" said Shikamaru as he stuffed the paper in the defeated god's mouth. He soon turned around to face his friends. "Sorry I had to use the last of the sutras. But I'll need them here to keep this pile of crap subdued." Everyone nodded to this. They understood it couldn't be helped due to the opponent they were facing.

"Well get going I'll maintain things here" said Shikamaru

"Let me heal up your wounds first" then interjected Sakura

However he stopped her from doing so. "No, you guys need to conserve as much chakra as you can. Things from here are only going to get harder and soldier pills aren't going to cut it anymore. Besides I've got some medical supplies so I can easily stop the bleeding and take care of the burns on my own". He then closed his eyes before opening them again. "Be careful going down. You need to make sure you stay one step ahead on everything else down here. But furthermore you're getting closer to the end and things are only going to become increasingly dangerous. So conserve as much as you can and maintain your sanity because there are some things here that human eyes should never have to see"

Everyone understood and took his words to heart as they began to exit into the next domain of hell. But just like always, "Stay safe Shikamaru and try not to do anything crazy" said Naruto

Shikamaru smirked as he closed his eyes and shook his head. "What a troublesome person." He then looked up to Naruto, "Go rescue Hinata, she's waiting for her prince to come"

Naruto gave a slight blush to this but then broke into a smile. "We'll bring her home. You can count on it" and soon the group left to the circle of violence.

But as soon as they were out of sight the shadow nin fell to the ground unable to do anymore. He then looked to Jashin whose eyes looked like they were bulging at him. "I guess I pushed myself a little too hard. But I can't die yet. I still need to make sure they get back" and soon Shikamaru grabbed his opponents scythe and stabbed it into the ground keeping the gate open.

"Hurry back guys" was all he could say as he soon passed out waiting for them to return giving the news of their success

* * *

Author's notes: Well I hope this chapter was an entertaining piece to read. But at this point in time it'll start to probably take longer to update due to my current schedule. So anyways the only characters left to fight are Neji, Lee, Tenten, Sakura, and Naruto. But also keep in mind that another soul decended with Jiraiya to aid the Konoha ninja, but this person won't be revealed until the time is right. Furthermore they are going to meet the person who had trespassed into hell first. I believe it should be obvious who the person is. However why he is here won't be revealed until later chapters.

So I thank you for your time in reading this fic and further extend my gratitude if you can review it as well.


	8. Violence

Chapter 8: Seventh Circle – Violence

Synopsis: Fate can sometimes be a disturbing factor in life to which you are never too certain what will happen or who you will meet along the road of life. However in this case what were the odds of meeting an old friend and enemy along the path of death? For the fact remains that no matter how much time passes there will always be lingering feelings left behind in reminiscence to age old wounds.

But the one unifying fact of all life is an age old saying, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" So in this sense can former enemies ally themselves long enough without killing each other?

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Naruto franchise or characters associated with it. I also do not own any part of the 14th century Italian divine comedy Dante's Inferno.

"talking"

thoughts

* * *

"We're almost at the end" said Naruto as the group continued to venture down to the next level

"Will things really be alright?" asked Tenten. "We barely managed to overcome most of the obstacles and that was when we were altogether. But now there is only a few of us left with very little chakra and supplies to go on with"

"No need to fear Tenten-san!" said Lee. "As long as we have the burning passion of youth we can overcome any obstacles!"

Everyone gave a slight sweat drop to Lee's usual antics. However it was much appreciated as a little optimism can go a long way. Their current predicament in Hell was going to get worse before it gets any better. But now after a small duration of walking sounds could be heard echoing up towards them.

"What is that?" asked Sakura as she cupped her ears to better understand the sound.

The noise echoed within the cavern it soon became clear to what they were. They were the screams of agony and pain from an innumerable amount of voices. As the group continued their way down they started to feel the sounds of their voices bounce off their bodies. But as they came closer another thing became apparent as well.

"Do you smell that?" asked Naruto while giving the air a sniff

"Yeah" replied Neji, "It's blood"

"But why does it smell like that?" asked Tenten

"Because of this" said Sakura as she pointed down within the seventh circle of hell

Upon entering this circle everyone's eyes looked down to see a huge river of red which lay before them. At a closer look the team could see as many souls squirmed and struggled amongst each other to stay afloat and escape their torment.

"These damned are punished for their violence against others" said Sakura. "Their punishment is to forever bathe in the blood that they spilt as it boils them each day in reminder for their crime"

"That is all well and good" said Naruto. "But how do we cross from here?"

"Look" pointed Lee, "we can use those rock pillars to cross. Hmm, but it does seem kind of far to jump though"

"No time!" stated Neji. "We have to go now!"

Everyone looked back to see a wave of demons descend upon them. It immediately then became clear that they could either stay and fight or escape past the river. But looking at their current status running was a far better option. So looking for the closest pillar the Konoha ninjas began their move as they jumped from one rock to another. Sakura stopped as her teammates started to move ahead of her.

"Sakura! What are you doing? We have to keep moving!" yelled Naruto

"I'm going to buy us some time. Just keep going" replied Sakura as she struck the pillar beneath her before jumping to another

Monsters began following pursuit as they moved onto the pillar. However the movement of too many of them broke the tampered rock formation, those unfortunate enough to be on them tumbled into the boiling river below. However these monsters weren't mindless as they could learn and adapt to the situation. So in this case the brutes taking advantage of their immense strength moved ahead of the wave by quickly jumping from one pillar to the next in which no time at all they caught up with their saboteur as she had just recently left her current position.

"_Shit!_" thought the pink kunoichi as her pursuers were now running side by side to her. A moment later two of them managed to move ahead stopping her progression. At this time Sakura had no choice but to stay and fight.

"We have to go back!" stated Naruto. But before he could even state his sentence one of his teammates had already left to do just that.

One of the brutes launched forward in a preemptive attack to skewer the pink ninja. However Sakura using her chakra enhanced strength caught the enemies spear while simultaneously lifting the monster and spinning it around. The brute soon released itself from its weapon while being tossed to one of its allies nearby sending the both of them below. Sakura then spun the spear before cocking it to her back. She then extended her arm forward flapping her hand for them to come.

Taking the invitation, they began their attack at all sides making certain that their target would have no room to fight back. But they weren't quick enough as Sakura swung her spear around knocking the closest brute away while simultaneously shooting it back hitting another opponent. Noticing an enemy coming straight at her, she jumped piercing the monsters back forcing it to the ground. Then following that momentum she lifted the monster up tossing the carcass to a nearby assailant while defending her six and nine o' clock position. However another brute came jumping from above slamming his sword down aiming to sever its human target in half. Luckily Sakura managed to block, but in doing so her spear was broken in half at the sheer pressure the beast applied. As the brute landed it followed its attack with a sharp kick to the gut which sent the pink kunoichi flying towards the edge.

At seeing the immediate danger Sakura stabbed the ground keeping her from falling into the river below, but now she was literally dangling at the edge of death as the brutes were now closing on her position. "Hell of a way to die" grunted Sakura, and at her perceived imminent death a familiar green beast made himself known as he planted his knuckles into the brute closest to the edge.

"Lee!" she said as the beautiful green beast of Konoha began his work kicking and punching his way through the crowd

Then taking the opportunity, Sakura pulled herself up. But during the process she watched as Lee danced around his opponents as they swung and slash only to receive a crushing and bone cracking attacks in return.

"Wow, fuzzy brows is incredible" said Naruto as the group had just recently arrived at seeing the taijutsu expert making good work of his adversaries. "Let's get in there. He is going to need our help"

But before he could leave Neji stopped him from pursuing. "Something doesn't seem right"

"What are you doing?" then stated Naruto. But before he could utter another word something else caught his attention as both Neji and Tenten eyes began to give off a weird red glow

Sakura who had just recently climbed back up assisted Lee in terminating the remaining brutes. A short struggle later the remaining monsters were either knocked out or taking a bath with the souls below. Afterwards the two Konoha ninjas jumped ahead to regroup with the others.

"We better keep moving the main wave isn't far behind and we shouldn't stick around to greet them" said Naruto.

But a moment later Lee punched Neji in the face sending the Hyuga to the ground. "But we haven't had enough fighting yet!"

"What are you doing?" exclaimed the blond. But Neji soon got up and responded by punching his teammate/rival back.

"So you want to die huh?" said Neji

"This is getting exciting" said Tenten as she summoned two of her batons as she gave one of them a lick

"Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill!" said Sakura and soon enough they all went at it as they attacked the person closest to them

"What is wrong with you guys?" said Naruto. For as he watched his friends go at it he noticed their eyes begin to glow dark red as their battle increased in ferocity.

Naruto looked back to see the wave of demons begin to close the distance on them. "We don't have time for this!"

He then grabbed the first person he could and started to shake them. "Sakura! Snap out of it". However her response was less the rational as his pink comrade took a few swings at him. Tenten who was fighting Sakura was stopped as the Uzumaki halted her attack. "You need to stop this!" But once again, pleas fell on deaf ears as he was brushed aside for the girls to continue their bout. Lee and Neji were neck to neck as they exchanged attacks with each other with their respective styles. But as their attacks were about to connect again a certain blond got in between and intercepted their strikes.

"Stop it already!", but once again Naruto was brushed aside as they continued their battle. He then turned to see as the monsters were getting closer to them. So now he was in a panic to what he should be doing. On one hand thousands of monsters were about to completely flank them and on the other his friends were too busy trying to kill each other to notice their impending death. At this time he couldn't understand what had gotten into them to behave in such a horrific way. However something did come to mind when Sakura and Lee returned to the group. But even earlier before that when Neji and Tenten were standing next to him. So with a quick deduction Naruto came up with a plan. A ridiculously stupid plan, but a plan nonetheless. He quickly got to work as he gave a hard punch to each of his friends to get their attention.

"If you want a fight then come and get me!" he taunted and like ferocious animals the four insane ninjas began their chase wanting to rip him limb from limb. So with that notion he got moving across the river with his friends closing in behind. "_Well at least we're moving away from the danger_" he thought optimistically.

So taking the time as he ran Naruto placed explosive tags on each pillar he came upon. Of course simple land mines weren't going to rid his group of the advancing forces. Nor was it going to take out a significant number of them. But for now what he needed most was time, and time was something he required to get his friends back to their correct state of mind.

After reaching the other side, Naruto had to deal with the immediate problem as four of his teammates surrounded him on all sides. "_This is going to be tough_"

Sakura dashed forward shooting a hard right with Lee coming in with a flying side kick. The blond jinchuriki caught both attacks just enough for them to be redirected to opposing sides. Up next was the weapon mistress as she expertly swung away keeping him on guard. But out of instinct at seeing an opening Naruto launched a solid roundhouse kick sending her away.

"Crap! Sorry Tenten", but due to that moment of hesitation it left his legs in shambles. In response Naruto flipped onto his hands using his ragdoll legs to kick Neji away. "Damn, he almost completely dislocated my spine"

Using what stability he had left, he balanced himself on one knee as his friends fixed themselves for round two. Sweat began to leak off the side of his face in both exhaustion and anxiety. But even in such a lousy situation a slight smirk came about his face in confidence of being able to resolve this matter without further difficulty. As his allies rushed in for the kill he prepared his Rasengan and struck the ground creating an instant smokescreen.

Without hesitation, they rushed into the dust cloud and struck at their target. Even though their attacks landed each quickly realized that there was no substance behind what they hit. But their realization came a bit late as Naruto plus three clones took this window of opportunity and knocked them all out in quick pinpointed attack. The blond gave a huff as his clones laid his friends to the ground before dissipating. "_Guess I should thank you a bit for giving me my legs bac kin time_" he thought while patting his seal. At seeing the advance wave slowly but surely progress, he picked up his friends and proceeded to move them to whatever place could be considered safe within the seventh circle of hell.

* * *

~7th Circle – Violence –center ring~

The trees wailed in agony as the intruder slashed away any branches in his way. He didn't care for their pain as his only objective was to get through as quickly as possible and into lower areas. Earlier he was stalled after needing to kill the guardian of the outer ring as it wouldn't succumb to genjutsu and required to be reduced to ash to keep it down.

Now while crossing through suicide forest the beasts who managed the land were none too pleased about his presence in their territory. So without wanting to use up anymore chakra and not wishing to bother with persuasion he quickly made due with reducing the caretaker to slabs of meat with many quick slashes of his blade. However it proved to be a mistake as his latest victim kept the forest in a perceivably manageable state for crossing and planting of new inhabitants. So needing to do this the hard way, the intruder hacked and slashed as needed to easily get through the mess. But things were about to get hairy as the intruder got further in.

"Took your sorry a** long enough to get here" said a blond man sitting on a tree branch nearby

The intruder looked up with a bit of shock but was immediately subsided out of agitation. "I shouldn't be surprised to see you here. But I don't have time to play. So get out of my way or do you want to die again"

A smirk began to form of the blonds' face which soon stretched into a maniacal smile which then turned into a full blown laugh. "You're as arrogant as ever you f**king prick. You barely were able to stand up to me before. What makes you think you can do it now considering you can't kill a dead man?"

The intruder's eyes began to change as he drew out his sword. 'You'll find that I'm far more powerful since we last met. Since you want to be killed by me again so eagerly I'll at least grant you that much"

Soon the fight began as explosions and black flames consumed the forest as the two battlers collided giving everything they got.

* * *

~7th Circle – Violence – outer ring~

Naruto stood at the border to the middle ring curious to what all the tremors were. However most of his attention was focused on taking care of his unconscious comrades that had tried to kill him moments ago. Curious to how long he had to wait his curiosity was resolved as his friends started to come too.

"What happened?" asked Sakura as she rubbed her head

"I don't remember. But more importantly where are we?" asked Lee

"We seem to be near a forest of some sort" answered Naruto. "But I'm glad that everyone is back to their normal selves" he smiled

"What do you mean?" but then a flash of memory shot through the pink ninja's brain as she grasped her head at the intensity of what happened. "oh"

"Sorry Naruto, I honestly don't know what came over us" said Tenten

"It's obviously due to this circle" said Neji analytically. "This is the circle of violence so it shouldn't be too surprising that it feed our blood lust to extreme limits where we even tried to kill each other for no reason"

"But why wasn't Naruto affected?" then asked Sakura

"Yeah, I've been wondering that too" said Naruto

"It's most likely due to master Jiraiya's seal. It seems that it had the added affect of protecting you from this world's influence. So you should count yourself lucky Naruto" explained Neji

"But what can we do about it now? If we get infected again there is no telling what could happen" said Lee worriedly

The Hyuga prodigy momentarily shut his eyes before opening them again. "The best we can do is to try and avoid fighting as much as possible and move on to the next circle. But if it becomes unavoidable it will have to suffice that we suppress the blood lust with our own will power"

Neji then looked to his blond compatriot. "But if we get out of control again you will have to be the one to deal with us"

Naruto displayed a confident look. "It won't come to that. I know you all well enough that you won't let a little tantrum to get the better of you"

"Geez Naruto" as Sakura rubbed the back of her

"Yes! That's the flaming power of youth!" stated Lee with a passion

"Thanks Naruto" said Tenten while Neji just gave a smirk

Soon they were off as the Konoha ninjas walked to the center ring entering suicide forest. Along the way Sakura explained what this place was and why those souls were here. Although there was some pity to go around they didn't have the time to stick around and pray for their salvation.

Strangely, it seemed as if a path was made for them to easily cross through to the other side. But as they walked along, the tremors Naruto felt earlier indeed started to feel stronger and stronger as they moved closer.

"What is that?" asked Lee "and there also seems to be a heavy scent of smoke and explosives"

Neji activated his Byakugan to take a look ahead. "There seems to be an intense battle occurring up head" he then scrunched his eyes a bit, "but this chakra channel seems familiar somehow"

"Let's go take a look" suggested Naruto

"Wait! Shouldn't we avoid this? We'll probably get drawn to the battle as well" exclaimed Tenten

"Something . . . . is telling me I should go and look no matter what" said Naruto

"I agree" added in Sakura hesitantly

Neji paused to think this over. Since Shikamaru was no longer present he was required to be the group's voice of reason. But after a few moments of thinking he decided, "Just look and that's all"

Naruto and Sakura gave a nod to this before the team moved out to take a look at the commotion. But little did team Naruto know that fate sometimes has interesting ways of going about things.

"What's wrong? Ready to die already?" snickered the blond man

The intruder was indeed beginning to feel the stress of his technique catch up as he had apparently killed the blond man about five times now. But regardless of his effort he always manages to come back for another round. The fact was if their existence is weakened severely enough then their presence would fade away for the time being. However something was keeping this bombardier from dissipating when it was clear his will power should have faded after being killed the first time. During this moment the intruder had not yet come up with a guess to how he was doing it.

"Do you understand now? You can't dispel me no matter what you do" he taunted "But let's see how long you'll last thinking you have a chance here in hell of beating me" and at that the blond man who was formerly known as Deidara of Akatsuki casually tossed one of his C1 explosive birds to Sasuke Uchiha, a former ninja of the leaf.

"Sasuke? What is he doing here?" said Naruto in the groups hiding spot. At seeing his former teammate in a rough situation the blond ninja was ready at that very second to jump out there and help. However a strong hand on his shoulder kept him from doing such.

"We should not get involved with a traitors business. For we have our own problems and besides we can't afford to waste time helping out someone like him" said Neji

"You can stay here if you want! But I'm going out there to help!" responded Naruto

"Naruto! Wait!" exclaimed Sakura, but in truth she also wanted to go out there. But like everyone else they would lose their sanity the moment they started fighting, and an ally who would end up attacking you in the end would be better off not helping at all.

Sasuke was still puzzled to how Deidara had managed to hang on this long. Initially it was believed that the bombardier was using a replacement or clone jutsu to escape death each time. But his Sharigan eyes told him otherwise because his presence each time was no illusion or a fake. So if this were the case then he needed to understand the trick to how he was coming back each time. In that moment he decided to use Amaterasu again to see what will happen.

"Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhh" screamed Deidara as he was reduced to ashes once more. But a moment later the bomber man reemerged next to a tree nearby yawning at the current action. "You're getting very repetitive with that move. But I guess it's not your fault you're so f**king predictable"

The Uchiha's face scrunched a bit, "If you don't want to stay down then I'll just keep killing you until you can't get back up!" and with that Sasuke charged forward with his lighting infused katana hell bent on shutting up the talkative blond.

But upon slashing right through him another appeared right behind him to which he too was then cut down. But it soon became clear that after the fifteenth reappearance that all he was doing was making a point. The point being he was going too far outlast him before dissipating anytime soon.

"_What's his secret?_" thought Sasuke. "_How do I beat him?_"

At this point he was definitely feeling the exhaustion of constant chakra use. So not wanting to waste anymore he reverted to a more hack and slash method to buy time until he could figure out how he was doing it.

"This is getting boring. Let's make things more exciting" said Deidara as he started preparing his C1 bird bombs.

Recalling their last encounter, Sasuke once again charged his blade to nullify the earth element explosives. As the birds came he began cutting them down without delay. However, playing defensive was not going to get him anywhere. So without hesitation Sasuke charged his foe in an attempt to stop his attack for the time being. But this act proved fatal as he ended up stepping on a land mine placed there courtesy of his nemesis. He looked to see that he was completely surrounded by multiple explosive clay animals.

"_Shit! I'm not going to make it in time!_"

"Bombs away" laughed Deidara

In one brilliant explosion if a voice could be heard then it would be that of a sixteen year old boy crying out in concern to his friend as he jumped in the way to shield him from the blast.

"What the?" said Deidara as he looked down from his spot to see what just happened.

As the smoke cleared a very charred looking Naruto could be seen on all four directions protecting the intended victim of the blast. Meanwhile Sasuke had little to no reaction for his former teammate's appearance as he disarmed the mine he was standing on.

"What are you doing here?" asked Sasuke coldly

In that instant the Naruto's that surrounded him turned into puffs of smoke as the real body came walking in right behind him. "Is that how you treat someone that just saved your life?"

"Save? Do you think I need the help from an idiot to save me?" Sasuke retorted

"Sure looked like it from where I was standing" replied Naruto. "Besides there is nothing wrong with people helping each other ya know" as he smiled

Sasuke face remained in a neutral expression before he shut his eyes. "Do whatever the hell you want. But if you get in my way I'll kill you too"

"I wouldn't expect it to be any other way" said Naruto

"If you two are done with your little chat I'd like to get back to blowing sh*t up"

The two former friends looked to see as explosives came at them. The pair split up to avoid the incendiaries as well as the aftershock effect. However they needed to keep moving in order to avoid damage. Additionally they also had to watch out for land mines that were placed around the area. Naruto decided to go with mass kage bushins to safely detonate any explosives in the area. But taking the smoke as cover the Konoha ninja emerged with Rasengan in hand getting a point blank hit on the bombardier.

In that instant Sasuke noticed something unusual about the area the moment a new Deidara appeared. "_What was that?_" he thought

Deciding to let Naruto have another go the blond shinobi immediately dispatched the next Deidara copy to which a new one immediately showed up. "_Why didn't I see that before? But I have to make certain_"

"Naruto! Create many kage bushins and kill him as they come" commanded Sasuke

"You're not the boss of me!" complained Naruto as he finished off another copy to only be replaced by another.

"Just do it!"

"Fine! Whatever!" and at that Naruto formed multiple bushins to which Deidara had to respond with more fierce attacks to deal with the enormous mass.

"_Why isn't he using his C4 explosives? That attack would have easily dealt with the idiot and all his bushins. If this is the case then it only proves what I think!_" and at that Sasuke activated his Mangekyō Sharingan to burn down the surrounding area with the black flames of his clan.

"_Amaterasu!_" with his intended target being all the trees in the area

"Hey! Watch it!" shouted Naruto as a few of his clones got caught up in the attack

In the duration of a few minutes every tormented soul tree in a half-mile radius was reduced to ash

Sasuke immediately shut his eyes and held his head at the pain of holding the technique. "Are you OK?" asked Naruto worriedly

"Pay attention moron!" he shouted while still keeping his eyes covered

The blond ninja turned to see a flock of bomb birds come their way. So in that moment He grabbed his former teammate while simultaneously leaving a clone behind to take the damage. However he didn't get far enough as part of his body was burned from the blast.

"Get off me idiot!" yelled Sasuke

"Shut up! I'm trying to save your a** here!" he retorted

"It took you a while to figure it out" said Deidara

Naruto looked up to see the bomb expert slowly approach them. "You were right about the trees. They supplied me a new body every time you destroyed the old one. But they served their purpose in exhausting you, and you have still yet to see the big finale" to which a giant clay golem began to form underneath his feet. As Naruto watched, the golem easily grew to three stories tall. But what concerned him more was how he couldn't protect Sasuke while fighting the monstrosity at the same time.

"Well this doesn't look good" said Naruto

"This art work is going to be a blast!" said Deidara ecstatically

To counter the situation Naruto was prepared to use his last sage mode. But lucky for him a pink blur arrived just in time to save both their a**es as her strength cancelled out the attack of the golem.

"What are you sitting around for? Get off your lazy rears and do something!" said Sakura

"What are you doing? That thing is explosive! And what about the soul contamination?" exclaimed Naruto

Sakura scoffed at this, "Don't worry" as she grabbed the giants arm "we have it covered!" to which the golem was thrown a good distance away

"This wouldn't be much of a finale without more guests to see it" laughed Deidara as he commanded his golem to stand once more as he himself prepared some C1 explosives.

"Bring it!" yelled Sakura as she charged in

"What is going on?" asked Naruto

"We're using artificial seals"

Naruto turned to see Neji accompanied by Lee and Tenten from behind. "The seals we wrote artificially generate lightning element. All we have to do is power it". He looked to see a circle seal marked on both of the kunoichi's battle gloves.

"That explains one part of it. What of the other problem?" Naruto asked. He then turned to see as Sakura's eye began to glow red.

"Time's up! It's my turn!" said Tenten as she rushed in naginata at hand

"Got it" responded Sakura as she pulled out of the fight

"Each of our individual will power gives us a certain level of tolerance. But once our tolerance has been breached we go into bloodlust rage. So during the time you were fighting we were figuring out how long our tolerance was and how long it took to wear it off" explained Neji

"Tenten-san, it's my turn now" said Lee as he entered battle with his signature dynamic entry

"But we can't win like this if we have to constantly do a revolving door switch" said Naruto. "We have to end this already"

"I know" said Neji as he ran off to switch places with Lee

"I better get into this as well" said Naruto

"But what about Sasuke?" asked Sakura with a hint of worry in her voice

"He won't be able to help in his current condition. Just leave him be" to which he then switched with Neji to continue the fight.

The switch lasted for a while to which in time the group managed to bring the golem down. But the ex-human Akatsuki member didn't get any easier as he was now using greater yield C3 explosives. Things got more complicated as the post human then initiated his C4 explosive. However this move was counteracted as Neji unleashed a protective lightning Kaiten to neutralize the microbial bombs. In doing so he was removed from fighting to recover from the move. But things were getting harder as injuries were starting to stack on each other.

"AHHHH" screamed Tenten as a miniature explosive bird hit her side

"Enough! I'm going in now!" said Lee as he switched with his female compatriot

Lee began kicking and punching hoping to knock out his enemy. However most of his attention was occupied just neutralizing the attacks. "Fuzzy brows! Switch with me now!" yelled Naruto

"No! I can last a bit longer!"responded Lee

Unfortunately an attack got though hitting Lee's thigh. The green beast cringed at the pain but continued to keep fighting. But then another attack leaked in. However he continued fighting regardless of the damage. Then another attack got in hurting Lee more. But the green beast was far too stubborn to let such a thing to stop him. "I won't be stopped by something like this!" just as three miniature explosives hit but not without ramming his fist into Deidara sending him several feet away.

"That's enough!" exclaimed Naruto as he sent two of his bushins in to remove Lee. As they returned Naruto ran by giving a thumb up. "Don't worry, I'll make your punch count"

The blond ninja formed several bushins to confuse his enemy as he came charging at his enemy from all sides. Deidara followed the same strategy which resulted in several explosions smoke screening the area. But within the mist the two ninjas continued to fight with their hands and feet determined to win. Naruto however did manage to get a good solid punch in striking the bomber man in the face. But his reaction was off as all he did was smirk while grabbing his arm. Naruto's eyes bulged at was this meant. It was too late as the clay clone exploded sending the jinchuriki away charred and bleeding.

The real Deidara soon walked out of the smoke approaching the down blond planning on finishing him. But like déjà vu the blond ninja gave a smirk of his own as he puffed out of existence as the real Naruto appeared from behind grinding his Rasengan into his back.

Deidara was now imprinted into the ground after feeling the full force of the technique. "_I will not go down like this_" to which he promptly shot himself up and latched himself to the jinchuriki as he prepared his final move. "I hope you like it in hell" he laughed as he unleashed his final C0 self-destruct technique. In the one brilliant flash of light Deidara found himself back a few seconds ago to which he was now going to be struck with a second Rasengan.

In moments like these time seemed to slow down as the bombardier wondered how the hell did this happen. He then turned his head to see that Sasuke Uchiha the man that had caused his death the first time had just used Tsukiyomi on him to screw up his perception of time. Even if it were just for a moment it was enough to trick him and allow his current opponent to come out on top. "Son of a b**ch" and with that the Rasengan collided defeating the bomber man forcing him to dissipate from their presence.

Naruto collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. But he was soon collected by his friends as they recuperated from the near death experience with Neji and Sakura on medical tasks. After getting the patch up done the question hung in the air about what to do with the extra member.

"We should leave him. We have our own problems to deal with" said Neji

"What are you saying? If he hadn't stepped in we would have all been killed from that blast" said Naruto

"But that's the point. He is only here to help himself and that will only complicate the mission" said Neji

"But we need all the help we can get going down" he responded

Neji was now becoming irked, "and what makes you think he won't betray us the moment he gets the chance!"

Naruto looked down to his former friend as he was still breathing heavily from the injuries and exhaustion. He then looked back to Neji, "because he's the kind of jerk to sit through things until the very end"

The Hyuga prodigy scrunched his eyes in annoyance, "you'll regret your decision" as he turned his back to go survey the area

Naruto then gave Sakura the OK to heal their former teammate

As Sakura got to work a part of her ached in being so close yet to far from the person she wanted to save. But out of professional habit she struck up a conversation with her patient. "So why are you here?"

Sasuke looked coldly to her while maintaining his neutral expression. "That is none of your business. Just finish the job."

The pink kunoichi was a bit taken back. But to her optimism he wasn't lashing out at her.

Soon team Naruto plus Sasuke began moving again. Following the directions of the compass the team crossed into the inner ring where the gate to the next circle resided. Upon this new area it was like a desert with scorching hot sands which could burn the skin right off your bones. This area was dedicated to those who were violent towards god in either damnable or blasphemous acts which soiled their rule. Although there were many souls screaming out from the sands they posed no threat to the group. In addition there appeared to be no guardian in this area let alone any monsters aiming for their lives. So for all tense and purposes this was a good opportunity for the group to rest and get a few things straightened out.

"Can I ask for your assistance on this mission?" said Naruto

The Uchiha who was walking beside Naruto continued to look forward. "Why should I help you?"

"Someone important was taken from us and she is currently being held captive in the ninth circle. So we can really use all the help we can get" said Naruto

"Do you really think you can trust me so easily?" smirked Sasuke

Naruto folded his arms behind his head displaying a smile to lighten up the mood. "We're currently traveling in the same direction so I figured we could help each other out, and besides the more the merrier right?"

Now he knew Sasuke already had issues with any person associated with Konoha from their last conversation. Heck, he wouldn't have been surprised if he decided to kill everyone in the group at that very moment. However playing off of Sasuke's current mindset he believed his former comrade would not deny their assistance so long as he got what he wanted. Plus the fact if he tried to kill them now it would prove to be too costly for him in the long run to which he would fail to reach his objective and possibly die in the end. But of course this was a gamble on what his current mindset was.

Sasuke remained quiet for a while thinking this proposition over. But after a while he came up with his answer. "Fine, I'll play along for now until you used up your usefulness to me."

Naruto gave a smile to this which was also shared by Sakura. However Lee and Tenten were pretty uncertain about this decision while Neji was straight up apprehensive to the idea. But the moment no one was paying attention Neji made himself quite clear to their new guest.

"The moment you decide to betray our trust I'll make certain I am the one who ends you"

Even after that threat Sasuke just smirked in over confidence and decided to not think much of it.

Now finally at the gate towards the eighth circle Lee decides to stay behind to watch over things

"You're going to need every possible advantage from here. So it would be best if I'm the one to stay behind this time" said Lee

"Lee?" said Tenten questionably

"The use of ninjutsu will be the most important thing you'll have down there. So it's obvious that I'm the one who has to stay behind" said Lee. As he said this his body stiffened and clenched at the weight of those words. The fact was taijutsu alone would not be enough to make the rest of the journey and this was something he had to do to heighten the team's chances of success.

"Fuzzy brows . . . . " said Naruto sympathetically

"Just go!" said Lee

Naruto looked down with heavy face but then looked back up to Lee. "We won't let you down" and with that the group moved on to the eighth circle of hell.

"Good luck my friends" said Lee. "May you all come back safely"

* * *

~9th Circle – Treachery~

The master was starting to get agitated about the recent string of events. With all the power of hell played against them a small group of humans had not only dared too but also successfully managed to get this far into the cursed world of inferno.

But the dark deity couldn't decide what got its aura blazing with anger. The fact an Uchiha had dared to step into its territory or the bond the blond leader had with the captive. But it did not matter as the master would soon claim both their souls and make them suffer an eternity for their insolence.

* * *

Author's notes: sorry for the late update but yeah here is the chapter and I hope it made sense because fighting scenes are something I'm still working on. Also if anyone was wondering why Sasuke was sane for the most part it was due to the fact he also came well prepared with protective sutras. For the most part he has been getting by with using genjutsu to avoid fighting the guardians and wasting energy needlessly until now when the master took a particular interest in him. Now I hope this story hasn't been getting boring for anyone because this has been the longest story I've written thus far.

Additionally I know this story had potential to become so much better. Unfortunately, writing the dark elements of the human soul is a place I can't tread on because in doing so who knows what I'll find out about myself.

So I thank you for your time in reading this fic and further extend my gratitude if you can review it as well.


	9. Fraud

Chapter 9: Eighth Circle - Fraud

Synopsis: One more level before the final battle. But what will they encounter in a circle filled with deception and suffering. For this domain is reserved for souls whose tongues reek of filth with the empty promises they preached in life. But in this world on the final decent into the cold void, team Naruto will have to face the greatest judgment yet the greatest irony of this world . . . . the truth

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Naruto franchise or characters associated with it. I also do not own any part of the 14th century Italian divine comedy Dante's Inferno.

"talking"

_thoughts_

* * *

The atmosphere was tense with the group for three reasons. First was due to their poor body conditions after having to tread through seven levels of hardship and horrors. The second was the fact they were going to face the master of hell and the chances of success were not looking good. Then finally the third and immediate issue was the black haired guest who had just joined their team.

As Sasuke took point in the group he knew that the two remaining members of team Gai were being very careful of him. He knew if he tried anything funny the Hyuga or the weapons mistress could quite quickly stick a kunai into his back. Even if he managed to deal with them he would then have to deal with his former teammates. But more so he would have to deal with Naruto. Even though he would never openly admit it, Uzumaki Naruto has indeed grown stronger to which if they fought now he would not be certain who would come out as the victor. So for now he decided to play along and use them until he achieved his goal here in the world of Inferno.

"What's the next area?" asked Naruto

Sakura maintaining her composure talked as she walked. "The next circle is fraud"

"Fraud?" said the blond

Sakura nodded, "The next circle is reserved for those who have greatly deceived in life. Due to the filth of their tongues or promises they were cast here as punishment for their crime"

The blonds face then etched a sign of worry at that note. "But wouldn't that mean all ninjas would end up here since that's the basis of what we are?"

She shook her head, "not exactly, what separates us from them is our purpose. For us ninjas do not lie for our own personal gain but instead for another cause such as the loyalty and success of those we serve"

"Seems kind of a fine line we walk" said Naruto

"Like most of the things we do, they all are" said Sakura

They then proceeded down until they finally arrived in what appeared to be the eighth circle of hell. But unusually this seemed quite different from everything they had encountered thus far. As they stepped foot into the new domain it was like stepping into the desert at night (just imagine the scenery of Hueco Mundo from Bleach). The place was cold and dark which was expected of a world one level above the ultimate punishment. But there seemed to be absolutely nothing happening in this area. That was what got everyone on edge. After going through seven circles listening to the constant screams of agony while having to fight for their lives and surviving on the bare skins of their teeth this seemed too good to be true.

"Naruto?" said Tenten

"Right!" as he pulled out the compass to which it pointed for them to go straight. But as they looked nothing appeared to be there except for sand and dead trees in the area. However the Byakugan indicated there to be something in the far distance. On that note the group began to run at full speed attempting to get to the structure. As they ran it only confirmed this world was truly empty as no souls seemed to be in the area let alone any attackers. Curious it was to why they weren't being attacked. One level away from reaching the bottom enemies should have been plaguing them left and right. But that didn't seem to be the case as silence was the only thing that consumed the land. The group started to feel tense from how quiet in was. After a good deal of running they finally began to see what was on the other side. What was there appeared to be a gate. But as far they can see or tell the gate stood there standing alone with nothing to support it. It was peculiar that after all this time this was the only thing they would see.

"What is that?" asked Naruto, but no response came. "Sakura?" he asked as he turned his head to find no one there. The blond jinchuriki immediately stopped running flustered to what could have possibly happened to her.

"Hey! What happened to Sakura-chan?" asked Naruto. But as he turned his head once more no one was there now. He started to twist and turn trying to understand what had happened. "Sakura? Sasuke? Neji? Tenten? . . . . Where is everyone?" he screamed

* * *

~8th Circle – Fraud~

"Naruto? Sasuke? Where are you guys?" called Sakura worriedly

As she treaded through the cold sand she couldn't help but get a lonely feeling creep up inside of her. One moment she was certain everyone was running right beside her. But next they were gone. During the run it was unclear when or even where everyone disappeared too. However it was clear they were no longer together.

* * *

~8th Circle – Fraud~

"Neji? Naruto?" Tenten called, "Where did everyone go?"

But a part of her already knew that calling out to them was rather pointless seeing that with Neji's eyes he would've found her by now. Tenten sighed as she thought about what would Neji do in a situation such as this.

* * *

~8th Circle – Fraud~

Neji looked the area over curious to where everyone went. But as he scanned the desert for his team there appeared to be no one in sight. He then began to think for a while and concluded that this wasn't an illusion. However when and where everyone disappeared was still a mystery. But it was obvious to the same thought everyone should have had in this occurrence.

* * *

~8th Circle – Fraud~

The place they needed to meet was going to be at the gate or even possibly in the next circle. But Sasuke didn't really care so long as he got to his destination. As a matter of fact he preferred it this way that he traveled alone. With less emotional baggage to carry the better he was off in completing what he needed to do. But somewhere deep down underneath all his hate and despair he too had to admit that traveling with a party had its benefits.

* * *

~8th Circle –Fraud~

It soon became clear to Naruto why this world was so cold and empty. This place was like the desert of loneliness where one would be separated from others to constantly wonder as bit by bit of them wore away from the isolation. But something like that wasn't going to wear him down. In his many years of service as a ninja he had truly come to understand that as long as you keep the people closest to you alive in your soul then you're never alone wherever you go. This was a lesson he knew his friends understood.

Now finally arriving at the gate the blond shinobi looked around for anything strange as his eyes came about a carving on the frame. "Bolgia" he read aloud as he directed his eyes towards the gate once more. He then took a look behind the structure to see relatively no difference. However it did not appear to be operable from that side. So after a while going to the other side he started to push on the gate forcing it open. During this process he mentally prepared himself for whatever he must face. But the moment the gate opened he saw a vast hallway stretching towards the unknown.

However due to his curious nature, Naruto looked at the other side to clearly see the gate doors opened. But as he looked through the portal it was nothing but desert on the other side. The blond ninja shrugged at this and entered the hall on the other side. As he slowly ventured forth he continued to look back just to make certain the gate would not close behind him, and after an nth amount of glances it was safe to assume it would not close.

He then continued to walk down the hall to which it was quite visibly dark. But at the same time you can actually see the things around you and tell what they were. As Naruto continued down, what caught his attention were the vast amounts of mirrors in the area. Some of the mirrors where hung on walls while others seemed to have been placed randomly around the area. There were even mirrors which defied gravity and hung in the air with nothing holding them. But the disturbing things about these mirrors were what were in it. For the most part his reflections were as they should be on many of the mirrors. As he continued forward things started to become stranger and stranger until they crossed the border of creepy. In some images his body would appear in different forms such as sideways, upside down, or even walking backwards. As he got further along some mirrors began to display him as a mutilated mess with limbs missing, guts hanging, and any other grotesque way there was to perceive the body. But now further down the hall Naruto found himself wanting to look away, but at the same time he couldn't. In these mirrors he saw himself as the "monster" he was. For the images displayed him being the Kyubbi in different stages of his tailed transformation. But then things got scary with the next image.

"Hinata!" said Naruto as he looked into the mirror. He instantly turned around hoping to see her, but no one was there. Upon turning back, his heart stopped at seeing the Hyuga heiress's mutilated corpse on the ground with him holding the weapon. Naruto jumped back only to bump into another mirror, and as he turned around he saw her hang herself right in front of him. The blond shinobi screamed in terror and shock of what happened. He soon turned around to see another mirror reflecting Hinata, but in this reflection the pale girl was bleeding all over with a hole in her chest where her heart should be.

"Why do you keep hurting me Naruto-kun?" said all three Hinata's with tears beginning to form

"I don't understand" he responded anxiously

"Why do you always hurt me Naruto-kun?"

"I never meant to. Please stop this" Naruto begged

"Why haven't you saved me Naruto-kun? Why have you forsaken me?"

"I'm here, I trying" said Naruto "Please wait for me a little longer" as tears started to form in his eyes

"These is simply no time left" to which all three mirrors disappeared leaving Naruto alone as he hyperventilated trying to tell himself it wasn't true. But then a usual light shined behind him to which he immediately noticed. Naruto slowly got up and faced the mirror to see what would be reflected now, and to his surprise it was just him along with two others. But the reflection wasn't really him as the image was him before he entered Inferno. As he examined the mirror he immediately recognized who the man standing right behind him was.

"Dad?" said Naruto quizzically. The blond nodded his head as if to confirm this fact. The blond ninja then looked to other figure who was a woman. The woman was quite beautiful with her long flowing red hair and tender smile. As he touched the mirror the woman touched back as if to feel him. "Then you must be . . . . "

"It took you long enough to get here!"

Naruto turned around to see another mirror. However this image was exactly of him but with black eyes. He quickly turned back to see the previous mirror gone to which every other mirror which was in the hall to be gone as well. The blond jinchuriki then looked back to the last mirror just to see the image of him climbing out to which the entity was now real and in front of him. "Who are you?" said Naruto as he grabbed for a kunai.

Mirror Naruto darkly chuckled before exploding into a maniacal laugh. "I am the truth. But for someone as stupid as you, I am the real you"

"What are you talking about?" said Naruto as he got into defensive stance

M. Naruto grinned at this

* * *

"We are the more honest side of you" said m. Sakura. "That in turn makes us much more real then you'll ever be"

"That's ridiculous!" exclaimed Sakura, "I'm not that kind of person!"

She snickered at this

* * *

"Then how would you describe yourself?" said M. Tenten. "How do you really see yourself?"

Tenten tensed at this question. The answer was not as simple as that

* * *

"Then how do I rid myself of you?" asked Neji as he maintained his calm composure

M. Neji also displayed the same motion. "Defeating me would be the equivalent of killing yourself"

* * *

"But I cannot allow you to pass" replied m. Sasuke

Sasuke was now irked at having to deal with this fake. Not only was this copy talking too much, but it also had the nerve to tell him he wasn't being honest with himself. Using Amaterasu seemed like a most appealing idea at shutting this clone up. But doing so would severely strain his eyes, and he needed every moment of them in order to reach the end. At this point in time his eyes were not in very good due to overuse. So unsheathing his katana, the rouge ninja decided to settle things the old fashion way.

* * *

"That's just a load of crap!" yelled Naruto as he prepared Rasengan

"Why turn your eyes from it? It's the truth after all, and who knows you better then yourself?" smirked the inverse. "Do you honestly think anyone in Konoha respects you? You were trash to them then and you're still trash to them now. Sure they like us now, but how long do you honestly think that will last?"

"I said shut up!" Naruto exclaimed as he charged in with his technique. But his reflection was ready with the same technique as the two canceled out. Soon the duo was battling it out with taijutsu in an attempt to get the upper hand. However, it was clear that neither would win at the battle raged on.

* * *

"Haven't you realized how self-fish you are? You used all the people around you to your own extent until their usefulness ended. Wasn't that how it was with Naruto?" said the clone

"That's not true! I'd never do that to Naruto!" stated Sakura as she and her opponent exchanged punches

"Oh? Didn't you use him all those years ago to guilt him into finding Sasuke? But now that he's out of reach you decide to pull him away from it!" said the copy as she grabbed Sakura and rammed her into a wall nearby.

"It's not true . . . ." she replied as her eyes became shadowed under her bangs

"And on that note let's talk about how good of a friend you've been thus far" sneered the inverse

* * *

"I won't allow myself to be beaten by a fake! I've beaten you once and I can do it again!" said Tenten as she summoned twin blades

"That was then and this is now. What you defeated then was a fake, but how do you defeat the real thing?" the clone snickered as she summoned the same weapon. The weapon mistresses immediately went to battle as their blades clashed against each other. But it was clear that the situation would not allow either of them to win.

* * *

Sasuke had no choice but to run since his inverse seemed to be able to use Amaterasu without limit. In addition genjutsu didn't seem to work as the copy still continued his attack, and he was being lucky so far that his mirror image hadn't decide to use Sussano yet.

But since that technique was his, he was also quite aware of what its weaknesses were. Using Chidori, he struck the ground with enough force and chakra to turn the debris into dust. Drawing out his sword he sent the dust cloud at his double who instantly combusted it into a black fireball. But before it got too close the inverse using his originals ability lit out the fire. Taking advantage of this, Sasuke came bursting out of the cloud and threw some lightning charged dust into his opponent's eyes blinding him temporarily. The rouge ninja then came down with a cross slash planning on ending this battle. However it was too soon to think that as blocked with his katana.

"You honestly think it's going to be that easy?" smirked the inverse to which Sasuke grunted as he swang away at his opponent.

* * *

After a few tradeoffs, the two Neji's stopped fighting as they stood before each other in a staring contest. It became quite clear to the original that further pursuit of this confrontation would be pointless. Just as he stopped fighting so did his inverse.

"If our strength and speed are equal" said Neji

"As well as our intelligence and skill" said m. Neji

"Then clearly neither of us can win" said the two Hyuga's in unison

The Hyuga prodigy stood before his mirror image with contemplation. The last time he fought his doppelganger he barely managed to pull out a win. But that technique was a product of humans unlike now as his double was a product of something beyond reason. However it was clear that he could talk to this entity without a fight ensuing. But then did that mean the copy in front of him was "truly" him? He couldn't quite swallow that as some of the things it said were pretty awful. But then again it was better than both of them fighting for nothing.

"You will always be a slave to the main branch. That is how things will remain until the day you die" said Neji's inverse. "If you think your precious Hinata-sama or Naruto can change anything then you are quite the fool. Frankly you've always been a dense idiot. I'm surprised you even survived this long on that much. So tell me how does it feel to be the main branches dog?"

A moment passed as a solemn face came about the Hyuga. "If I said none of that was true I'd be lying. But that is only a part of the truth in comparison to the whole. I do have my fears of them being empty promises and my existence forever chained down by my fate. But still I have my hope, and that is enough for me until then"

The inverse sighed at the response. "Well so long as you accept it I can't exist here for long" to which his body began to disappear and merge back to his original. But before his body completely vanished, "By the way, be honest with yourself and tell Tenten how you feel"

Neji scoffed at this, "that's not going to happen anytime soon"

* * *

Sakura was now wrestling with her other in order to force it into submission. But doing so proved to be rather taxing as she wasn't going anywhere with it. Furthermore what she was hearing made it difficult to concentrate at the matter at hand.

"You're such a manipulative b**ch" said m. Sakura . "You tried to use his feelings for you to sway him to our benefit. Oh, it really must have did a number on our ego to be refused by someone whose been chasing us next to forever"

"That's not true!" exclaimed Sakura. "We decided! We all decided to take care of Sasuke on our own. But Naruto, he needed to stop his search for his own sake. He didn't need to be tied down by the past or his promise. If he had me he would have stopped his obsession!"

The inverse laughed at this, "you heard him yourself didn't you? He's doing this for his own personal sake and not for you." Sakura flinched at this, but her mirror wasn't done yet. "But then what about your brilliant plan of getting him off his trail?" she asked sarcastically. "You confessed your "_**never dying love for him**_" without even thinking how this would affect him or at least the people around you" said the inverse

"What?" replied Sakura in shock

The inverse smirked at this, "You knew how Hinata felt about Naruto yet you told to him anyways. And for what I ask you? Not only were you going to deny Naruto of what he sought after, but also of what Hinata had always been chasing. So you were just going to sweep right in and hurt the both of them with your half-a** feelings! Hmph, some friend you are"

Sakura's legs collapsed as she fell to the ground. As she got on all fours tears began to well up in her eyes. "I know! I know!" she cried out as tears began to flow. "What I did . . . . What I did can't be forgiven. But I'm so sorry for it all. At that time . . . . At that time I thought it was right thing to do . . . ."

Sakura's inverse stood in front of her looking down at her pathetic form with scrutinizing eyes. But soon her body began to dissipate. "Just make sure you give them both a proper apology" she said before she completely disappeared into the original leaving the pink kunoichi to gather herself off the floor.

* * *

As Sasuke watched his other vanish before him it still bugged him about what his reflection told him. In order to win against them one must have been able to overcome their doubt and truly accept themselves for whom they are. Although he understood the truth of his inner self he couldn't accept it. His hate for what had happened to his clan, his family, his brother was all because of Konoha. It was them that had to pay for their deaths. However with speaking to his inner self he couldn't deny the slight doubt that was seeded in him. But that didn't matter now as he still had something to do in Inferno. With that a new mirror formed in front of him showing the Uchiha his next destination.

* * *

"What can you hope to accomplish? I know you resent everyone in Konoha!" m. Naruto continued. "They'll only turn against you the moment you've become inconvenient. So why bother playing along with them?"

Naruto continued to stare at him. After a struggle involving many bushins, Rasengans, and multiple tricks it was quite clear that winning was not possible. Plus using his final sage mode was pointless seeing as his reflection would have done the same thing resulting in a draw. But it finally occurred to him what he needed to do in order to win.

"Those guys lied to us! They made up rules to exclude us remember? We suffered! It hurt! I'm the only one who can understand you! Don't believe those guys!" said his inverse

"I know all that" replied Naruto calmly. "However they're all important to me. But there is something else I have to believe in. That is to believe in me. The person they had begun to trust"

The inverse began to crumple to the ground at such an answer. "Why? After all we suffered . . . ."

"Because you have to look past it all and be proud of the person you are ya know" said Naruto

"Am I holding you back? Who the hell am I?" the inverse yelled

"I was strong because of you. I wouldn't have been able to get this far without you" he replied calmly

"Then what should I do?" as his inverse began to charge in

"That's simple" and as his inverse launched his attack Naruto captured him within a hug. "You have to become me because you are me". Naruto's inverse gave a look of surprise at his answer. "Thanks for everything, but that's enough now"

As he began to disappear, "I guess that is also a truth in itself that can't be denied." A peaceful face then started to form. "By the way can you do me one last thing before I go"

"Yeah, what?" asked Naruto

"Save her" it said

"Don't worry, I won't fail" and as one Naruto remained in the room a mirror then took shape behind him. As he looked into the object he saw his friends on the other side. Out of instinct he touched the reflective surface which instantly transported him to where they were, and upon arriving he was greeted by his group.

The blond jinchuriki was glad to see everyone was OK. But as he looked back and forth he noticed one person missing within the team. "Where's Tenten?"

A moment later a mirror materialized and from it the weapon mistress appeared. However her condition was far different than before. As she emerged she was heavily wounded from many injuries. Some of the injuries consisted of slashes, bruises, and multiple burns.

"What happened to you?" asked Naruto

"I had a bit of trouble with my opponent before I figured out how to beat it." Tenten then gave a slight chuckle, "I guess she kind of messed me up a bit huh"

"Are you OK?" then asked Neji

She nodded her head, "but in my current condition I guess I'm going to have to be the one to stay behind". At that statement the weapon mistress collapsed to the floor only to be caught by her teammate

"Go" said Neji to everyone else. "I'll stay behind and watch over her"

Naruto nodded his head. "OK, we'll be back soon. So watch over things here"

"This will most likely be the final battle. So make all the necessary preparations. You're going to need it because the final enemy is the master of inferno." Neji then closed his eyes before reopening them. "I have faith in your ability. So bring my cousin home safely"

"Believe it" replied the blond as he shot his fist out

Soon the former team seven was now on their way to the cold void of the last circle. It was a place where only the worst sinners are sent to be punished for their betrayal in life. It was also the place where a certain lone girl waited for her prince to come rescue her.

* * *

~9th Circle – Treachery~

"So they're finally here" said the master after learning of their success in passing the hall of truth. "But it does not matter. For soon they will die in a way most suited for their insolence towards me. Isn't that right my slave?"

Out from the masters shadow the former Hyuga heiress appeared completely corrupted as neither warmth or light existed in her anymore. "Yes my master" as she knelt before the fallen deity

"Who is the one you shall kill?" asked the master

"All those who oppose the will of the master of inferno" recited Hinata

"And who is it that has opposed my will?" then asked the master

"Uzumaki Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto is the one who has defiled your will. In honor to you my master I will become the wings of death who shall deliver you his life as he screams in agony and suffers for his crime against you"

"Good, very good" said the master

* * *

Author's notes: Yes I know that there are ten trails to Bolgia, but I couldn't figure out a way to test the team deceptions in ten different ways. So I hope my improvising was OK in regards to it in which I used a few of the manga chapters to help write this one. But anyways the next chapter will be the final battle before the epilogue. So I hope everyone has enjoyed the story thus far. Also I do apologize if it seemed like I was bashing Sakura, but I really do respect the character.

So I thank you for your time in reading this fic and further extend my gratitude if you can review it as well.


	10. Treachery

Chapter 10: Treachery

Synopsis: The end has finally come to which the truth will now finally come to light. But why is it that the master of inferno has taken much interest in keeping Naruto away? In addition why does it hate the Uchiha clan so much? There are still a few surprises left around the corner. But if they are good or bad depends on the individual.

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Naruto franchise or characters associated with it. I also do not own any part of the 14th century Italian divine comedy Dante's Inferno.

"talking"

_thoughts_

_

* * *

_

As the former team seven made their way down silence was the only thing that existed between them. Sakura was still quite shaken for her experience within the hall of truth. Sasuke was still focused on his primary agenda. Naruto was steeling himself for the worst to come.

"_Only a bit further now . . . . Just hold on Hinata I'll be there soon_"

Sometime after, the teen ninjas found their way into the final decent. An afterlife to where only the cold and darkness awaited. A place where only the most wicked of souls is sent. The final and last circle of inferno to which all hope is lost, treachery.

As they walked into the final domain, freezing could not even define how cold this place was. But it was indeed a site to see. The world before them was like a kingdom of ice as the structure appeared in the form of a castle with many archways. But if the ice were the bricks then the souls would be the mortar. Even though they were frozen they were all quite conscious enough to know of their suffering.

Pitiful it was to see such a thing. But there was no time for them to gawk as the cold was getting to them. The three ninjas quickly made their way through wishing to remain as inconspicuous as possible. However there seemed to be very little point to that since the master should have been well aware of their arrival.

"I guess it wants to deal with us directly" said Naruto to which his companions agreed to with a nod

But little did they know that someone was watching them who had their own interest with the group.

Sakura got a creepy feeling that they were being watched and turned back to look. However no one was there. Naruto and Sasuke didn't sense anything as they continued moving.

More time passed as the trio began to feel their bodies stiffen at the cold. But there was no turning back now as everything gambled on an all or nothing chance.

The pink kunoichi still couldn't shake the feeling that someone was stalking them. So every so often she would randomly look around to ease herself of this paranoia. But her beliefs were confirmed as some ice formations broke nearby.

"Did you see that?" said Sakura

The group stopped as the lead boys noticed the presence as well.

"Should we run for it?" asked Naruto

"We don't even know what it is. So we're better off facing it here and now then needing to deal with it during a crucial moment" stated Sasuke bluntly

At that note the trio went back to back to see what could possibly be out there. In their current position they were surrounded by many large ice spires to which whatever it was could easily hide. Tension began to build as it became clear that something was indeed there.

"What the hell is it?" said the blond shinobi under his breath

"Just shut up and keep looking" replied Sasuke

Sakura's eyes rolled back and forth trying to spot the enemy. Just as the recent structure fell she managed to glimpse a large scaly tail swoosh right by. Hearing another crash, Sakura turned around to finally see who has been stalking them all this time.

"_Oh no!_" she thought as she turned around and pushed the two boys away

Both Naruto and Sasuke were surprised as they fell on their stomachs and slid a few feet away. Upon looking back their pink compatriot was no longer standing there.

"Sakura?" said Naruto as he looked around. "Sakura?"

A sudden rumbling could then be felt as the duo got onto their feet. With a quick deduction the two ninjas jumped apart from each other as the enemy emerged beneath them with Sakura in hand.

"No way . . . ." said Naruto as he looked upon who it was before them. The monster that appeared had a large snake tail in the place of his legs with two snake arms and several other snakes swarming off his back.

Sasuke looked angrily to the monster as he went to grip his katana.

"My, my, is that any way to greet your master?" said the snake like monster

"Heh, master? You used me the same as I used you. But I got the better end of the deal" Sasuke answered

"Ku ku ku, But now I'm here to collect in what you owe to me" said the snake monster

"Over my dead body Orochimaru" replied the rouge ninja

"That can be arranged" he smirked.

"You snake bastard! Let Sakura go!" yelled Naruto

Orochimaru turned to look at the blond jinchuriki with a smirk. "If he surrenders his body to me then I don't see why not"

"What good does it do you? You're dead already!" exclaimed Naruto

"Ku ku ku, true and thanks to that I finally understand the true essence to immortality. But it doesn't do me much good knowing it here. But with the use of a living body and all the gates opened above I can become the greatest ninja as I had always dreamed to be. So in part I suppose I should thank you for coming here" smirked the snake sannin.

Naruto cringed at that reply.

Sasuke dashed in with his lightning infused sword intending to kill his former master. At seeing this action the former sannin moved Sakura in front of him as a shield which did not deter the young Uchiha from his attack. However a young Uzumaki did.

"What the hell do think you're doing?" said Naruto

"She's in the way and I have not time for inconveniences" replied Sasuke

Naruto then grabbed him by the hem of his top. "You bastard! If you kill her I'll make sure you follow right after!"

Sasuke punched him in the face as the two separated just as one of their opponent's snake limbs came crashing down on them.

The blond shinobi flipped back onto his feet thinking about how to rescue Sakura while keeping Sasuke from killing her in the process. Meanwhile the said kunoichi was struggling to free herself. However it proved to be pointless as her current strength was just barely keeping the snake head from snapping shut on her.

"Tsk" said Sasuke. The last thing he needed was killing Orochimaru and then having to deal with Naruto right after. It was becoming rather troublesome that he couldn't just kill the snake bastard without inadvertently killing his former teammate at the same time. So at this he had no choice but to cooperate.

"How entertaining" said Orochimaru as he launched several of his serpent heads at the remaining ninjas. With each attack Naruto and Sasuke had no choice but to run. Although there were opportunities were it appeared vulnerable, his hostage would immediately be maneuvered there to inhibit their attack.

"Damn it!" said Naruto as he tried to get closer again only to have Sakura placed in front of him

"Attack the heads!" commanded Sasuke

"Why?" Naruto called back, but then he understood as some of the heads were looking right at them. "_Those other snakes control the body too!_"

The rouge ninja using his amazing speed cut right through three snake heads. But due to mid air suspension it left him open for the remaining heads to attack. However his blond teammate utilizing his clone jutsu generated a human rope and pulled him away before getting caught up in the attack.

Sasuke smirked as he landed on the ground with all the other bushins dispelling on the spot.

"You thinking what I'm thinking" Sasuke nodded to this. "Alright, I'll go right you take left"

The two boys then sprinted forward and soon peeled off at their destination. As they reached their appropriate points they both jumped up and commenced to cut off as many snake heads as they could. Sasuke began cutting off heads as he avoided attacks while Naruto using his wind element and several bushins began his side of the work.

After a few decisive blows the two boys landed in front of the monster pleased to see that the only heads it had left were his arms and his original.

"Alright, now to save Sakura" said Naruto

"Ku ku ku"

"What's so funny?" asked Sasuke

As if to answer his question all the heads they had just cut off all grew back and looked quite angrily at them. "What the hell?" exclaimed Naruto

"It is so entertaining to be playing with little mice" said Orochimaru. "Ku ku ku, but I'm afraid play time is over" to which his snakes began to attack more quickly and viciously then before.

"Move you idiot!" yelled Sasuke as he was dodging giant snake heads left and right

"What do you think I'm doing!" Naruto yelled back mimicking the same action

Four snake heads still remained on the monsters back as they watched the opponent's movements carefully. After a moment the four snakes opened their mouths as four different chakra elements were now shooting at them.

"Ahh crap!" exclaimed Naruto as they now also had to evade compressed chakra blasts of fire, lighting, wind, and water. "There is no end to this!"

Sasuke taking his chances activated his Mangekyo Sharingan and burned two of the artillery snake heads. However the strain became too great. So the young Uchiha immediately shut his eyes before he could take out the other two. Unfortunately his efforts were in vain as the other two heads bit off the damage before it could spread. As soon as they were decapitated they were immediately replaced with new heads to which they began their attack once again.

"_Shit! I should have gone for 'his' head_" he thought. But unfortunately his attack was predicted to why the snake sannin moved his hostage in front covering his main body.

"Sasuke! Watch out!" called Naruto

But due to his eye strain the rouge ninja was far too paralyzed in pain to move quick enough to avoid the attack from an oncoming snake head.

"Sasuke!" called Naruto again. However due to his lack of attention he too was struck forcing him back several feet.

"Ku ku ku game over" sneered Orochimaru

"Get up! You have to get up!" cheered Sakura as she attempted to increase her focus in order to escape.

"Too late!" as two snake heads were sent to capture them. As their jaws opened to swallow their victim, the attack stopped just as their mouths were about to snap shut.

"What is this" said the former snake sannin as his main body trembled

Sasuke and Naruto looked up to see that all that all the snake heads had stopped moving followed by Orochimaru's main body as it tensed up and convulsed as if it were fighting something.

"Careless"

"You! Why are you here?" stated the snake man

"Just taking care of something I should have done the moment we got here . . . "

"No! Stop! Stop! Ahhhhhh!" and with that Orochimaru's body began to break down as he was reduced to an intangible spirit form. With this transition Sakura slipped out of the hold and returned to her teammate's side.

A few minutes later, the ground began to shake as thick vapor began to cloud the vision of the former team seven. As they watched, the snake man's body began to grow smaller and smaller until his entire form resembled that of a single white snake. Behind the thick wall of mist a silhouette of a person appeared as he raised some kind of container. At that action the enemy that had plagued them was no more as he whimpered in defeat while being sucked into the raised item.

The silhouette person fastened his tool back to his hip while sheathing his sword. The three ninjas looked on in awe and shock to what had taken place. The same questions raced through all their minds on who was this person? What was their intention? Why did they help them? And the biggest question was if this person was friendly? If someone could defeat a monster like that without any trouble at all it was better to be safe now then sorry later.

The shadowy figure then redirected their attention towards them as it began walking towards them. "I see that you all made it here."

"That voice?" said Naruto as a shocked expression came about him

"It can't be . . . ." then said Sasuke as an equally shocked expression was plastered on his face

Sakura looked into the mist and slowly as the figure emerged she too was at a loss for words for who it was. "Itachi!" Of course she was on guard for what the man used to be when he was alive. But after remembering the truth she learned she relaxed herself just as her other teammate's did.

As the former Konoha and ex-Akatsuki ninja emerged he still had the exact appearance he did just before he died. However his body was looking a bit bluish due to the extreme cold he had to endure in addition to the ice chunks that had begun to form on him. Furthermore his eyes seemed to have been wrapped in cloth. But blood seemed to have been leaking down from both sides of his cheeks.

"Nii-san! Why are you here?" demanded Sasuke

"Hmph, I get it. So you're here to attain 'that' power aren't you Sasuke?" said Itachi ignoring the earlier question. "That's a fool's errand. You shouldn't have come here for that."

"Whoa, hold on. What is going on here?" questioned Naruto. "What power are you talking about?"

"The master of this world has it" answered Itachi as he turned his head towards him. "If an Uchiha can capture even a slightest bit of its aura then we can use our forbidden technique without limit"

"Forbidden technique?" then asked Naruto

"Izanagi . . . . ." sighed Itachi. "This technique virtually allows us to manipulate reality to the extent of playing god with not only our own life but as well as others"

"But what does capturing the master's aura have anything to do with that?" asked Sakura

Itachi looked down at that question. " . . . .You don't know who the master is do you?"

"What should that matter?" then asked Sakura

"It's a death wish for any Uchiha to face the master due to our connection to it" said Itachi "Sasuke, you probably didn't even know this yourself. But I'm going to make myself clear to you . . . . You know the names behind the three sacred eye techniques of our clan correct?"

Sasuke face scrunched at having his question ignored. If it were anyone else he would've kill them for their insolence. But for now, decided to play along. "Of course, they are Amatersu, Tsukiyomi, and Sussano."

"Correct" said Itachi. "Our techniques were inspired by the three great deities born under Izanagi within the Shinto system who made life possible for us humans. But this is why the master despises the Uchiha the most"

"I don't understand" said Sasuke. "What does this have to do with what I want?"

"Wait! You can't mean . . . . !" said Sakura

Itachi nodded his head in knowing Sakura understood what this meant.

"What is it?" asked Naruto

"There was an old story about how a god traveled into this world to retrieve his beloved wife. As he reached the final level he became horrified at what he found and fled from her. The goddess grew enraged by his betrayal and hunted him down throughout inferno. But he managed to escape while sealing Inferno in the process forever damning his wife to this existence" said Sakura.

"Was does that have to do with anything?" then asked Naruto as he rubbed his head trying to understand the relevance of it all.

"That god was Izanagi and the wife/goddess he came to rescue was Izanami. So . . . . " explained the pink kunoichi

"The master of hell is Izanami!" said Sasuke conclusively

Itachi nodded his head to this. "That is why our clan has taken the bulk of her wrath during our stay here"

"Everyone else is here too?" said Sasuke

"They were going to betray Konoha and send the village into a civil war." Itachi paused a moment before continuing. "I too was most likely going to end up here as I would either have had to betray my home or my family".

"But they deserved it! Konoha was the reason our clan ended up like this! They are the ones who should be here!" exclaimed Sasuke.

But at his remark the young Uchiha received a sharp punch to the face by his brother. "You fool . . . . Do you honestly believe such a thing as this?"

Sasuke rubbed his face. "Of course! They're the reason why our clan was forced to rebel! If they didn't push us into the corner then none of this would have happened!"

Itachi sighed as he placed his hand to his head. "Such a damned fool . . . . Who do you really think started this cycle of hatred?"

"Konoha! The elders, the ninjas, the citizens, everyone is to blame for what happened!" exclaimed Sasuke hatefully

"Then your eyes are still too clouded to see clearly then" stated Itachi. The Uchiha paused for a moment before continuing. "I know you met with Madara and the reason why I gave you my Amaterasu was to keep him away from you. I knew you would have allowed that man to poison your mind with his foolish beliefs"

"Madara allowed me to see more clearly than I ever thought possible. That man showed me the truth!" said Sasuke

Itachi becoming irritated picked Sasuke up only to punch him down again. "That man manipulated everyone! He was the one who casted suspicion on us by setting the Kyubbi loose in Konoha! Then from there it was just biding his time and manipulating the scene until he got what he wanted! In the end he got you!"

"What?" he replied

"Madara set up everything. That was why I planned for you to kill me so that you could go back to Konoha as a hero to clear our name with the village. But you foolishly allowed yourself to be ensnared by him and worse off became the enemy of the world" said Itachi as his irritation began to visibly show

"Why were you so reckless with your life? What in the world were you thinking?"

"Then why did I have to kill you just to do it!" screamed Sasuke as tears for the first time in a long time began to form. "It isn't fair that no one had to pay for what happened to you!"

Itachi was slightly taken back at that rebuttal. "Sasuke . . . . The cycle of hate had to end somewhere. I honestly believed that with my sacrifice everyone could have been saved and lived peacefully. But it was too idealistic with someone like Madara still running around. But please understand Sasuke that you have to let go of your hate and live your life the way it should be."

"It's already too late for that! There is no going back anymore!" replied the flustered Uchiha

A soft expression then appeared on Itachi's face. He then approached his brother and poked him on the forehead as he used to do when they were young. "There is always time. All you need to do is look back." Itachi then bent down on his knees to look at him face to face. "Now go with your friends because they need your help now."

Sasuke turned his head and grunted as a show of obliging.

Itachi smiled as he stood up to face Naruto. "Listen, I know that you came here to rescue Hinata-san. But be careful. Izanami has become quite bitter about love due to her own betrayal at the hands of Izanagi. Your best chance is just to retrieve Hinata-san and escape immediately."

"But why would she have it out for me?" asked Naruto

"You do love Hinata-san don't you?" asked Itachi

"Well . . . . uhh . . . . I . . . ." stuttered Naruto as he didn't really know what to say

Itachi chuckled at this, "I see." He then returned back to his serious expression. "But because of your connection to Hinata-san, she has grown spiteful that a lowly human would come rescue her while a god refused to do the same. So her hatred for you is just as bountiful as it is for us."

He then handed the blond jinchuriki an unusual mirror. "This weapon was attached to my Sussano. It has the power to reflect any attack away from the user. It should be helpful for your encounter with her".

"Why are you giving him that nii-san?" asked Sasuke as he was standing now

"There is not much a blind ninja can do to help. My sword will do you no good without the gourd since Orochimaru is already occupying it" said Itachi

"What are you talking about? What about your eyes?" then asked Sasuke

"I don't have my eyes anymore" said Itachi as he removed his eye cover. As he removed it, the former team seven was shocked to see that in the place of his eyes were two gaping black holes where his eyes should have been.

"Did Izanami do this to you?" asked Sasuke as he started to feel his anger rise again

"Yes and no. I willingly gave them to her" he said.

"But why?" asked Sakura still shocked at the elder Uchiha's appearance.

" . . . . mother did not belong here. She had no choice but to go a long with father's insane plan. So with the payment of my eyes mother was allowed to leave this world" explained Itachi as he rewrapped his eyes.

"Nii-san . . . ."

"This is the last thing I can do for you now" as he took the hands of the three teen ninjas. As he held on they began to feel better. At viewing themselves their injuries began to disappear along with their fatigue.

"Nii-san, the gates above are opened now. You can leave this place" said Sasuke

Itachi smiled as his body began to disappear. "I cannot Sasuke. Although I could I am still guilty for killing our clan and family while forcing this burden onto your shoulders. But don't be sad we'll meet again someday in another world if I can find enough forgiveness to leave this place".

"Nii-san!" called out Sasuke

"Now do me this last favor and help them rescue Hinata-san" smiled Itachi as he dissipated before them

A moment passed in silence as they absorbed what they had just learned. Naruto placed his hand onto Sasuke shoulder only for him to brush it off. "I'll cooperate for now. But after this is over we go back to the way things were."

"That's fine. I understand" said Naruto. He didn't expect his old friend to turn over a new leaf just like that after hating Konoha for so long. But it was a good start to go on as he felt a more resolved atmosphere emanate from the guy. "Well let's get going then."

The three ninjas began their trip across the cold plains seeing many frightening things along the way. But before getting too far in, the group encountered giants who were easily the size of a thirty story building. Luckily the team managed to get by without notice as they proceeded further in.

Treachery was indeed the last circle. However, it wasn't simply one domain, but four. After nerve wrenchingly getting pass the giants they arrived in the first section of betrayal known as Caiina. It was here that those who betrayed their kindred would reside. Sasuke found this area to be rather painful for it was here that his brother stayed. As they crossed a particular section, it was certain that the elder Uchiha was confined there until breaking out recently. So although Itachi still stayed in the ninth circle he was no longer bound to it.

The next area of betrayal was Antenora. It was here that Sasuke looked upon his family and clansmen as they were incased in ice. Antenora was for souls condemned for betraying their homes and country. As they walked, no words were needed as Naruto and Sakura could feel the hateful eyes of the Uchiha that glared at Sasuke as he walked by. Of course they could only assume why, but it most likely because Sasuke was the only one to survive. It was also here that Orochimaru most likely escaped from.

Now going into the next section, they arrived in Ptolomaea. This place was where betrayers of guests and friends were sentenced too. In this cavern of ice, faces were plastered everywhere like pictures on a wall. Although it was disturbing to see there was no one here that the three ninjas knew.

Then finally in the last section of betrayal was Judecca. This area is where people who betrayed god are sent too as they are completely encapsulated in ice unable to see, hear, or speak to which they are only allowed to feel as the sheering cold and empty loneliness ate at them at every passing second. It was this state that they shall stay until the end of time. But like the last area, they did not know anyone there.

After some walking they arrived at a giant hole which appeared to extend for miles as they could see no bottom to it. It was here that led to the final area against Izanami the master of Inferno and the one thing that kept the group from saving Hinata.

"Down this way will lead to Cocytus where Izanami is waiting for us" said Sakura. "Are we ready for the final battle?"

The two boys nodded their heads as they stared back into the void. "_We're here now Hinata, just a little longer_" thought Naruto. "Alright let's go!"

The former team seven with their resolve jumped into the chasm not knowing what will await them. But truthfully they were fighting a goddess. An immortal being without weakness with powers that would make them seem like fleas in comparison. So to be realistic they really had no chance in winning. Even with such overwhelming odds they would not allow such a thing to deter them. They have come too far to be stopped now, not when they were so close.

As they free fell, their approach began to slow down as they reached the area below. Looking down there appeared to be a perfectly circular pillar of ice below them. On the surface of the ice were rings that overlapped the other followed by many unrecognizable insignias. But looking back at them was the master of Inferno, Izanami. As she looked up a vicious smile appeared on her as she could barely contain her excitement of having new toys to torture for the next few millenniums.

Now as the former teammate's landed their attention was completely focused on the enemy before them. Even though she appeared in the form of a fragile woman that was far from the truth of what they felt from her aura.

Naruto stepped forward, "Give Hinata back to us or we'll take her back by force!"

"Is that so" replied Izanami as a strong gust of wind began to blow at them.

The three ninjas were blown back and almost off the pillar. As a response they used their chakra to anchor themselves down from the preemptive attack. The moment the wind ended Naruto found himself lifted off the ground by the neck as Izanami held him up easily with one arm. "And who are you to demand anything from me"

At seeing Izanami standing right next to them, Sakura gave the goddess one of her legendary punches. As her head flailed to the side it instantly flickered back as she backhanded Sakura breaking her neck and killing her in the process.

Sasuke charged in with his katana. As he was about to pierce the deities body his arm spontaneously combusted followed by the rest of his body. Naruto eyes widened in shock at seeing his two friends killed so easily. Izanami smirked as she punctured her thumb into the blond shinobi's neck. After a moment of struggling he died without too much effort.

Naruto's eyes popped open. As he looked to his sides Sakura and Sasuke were checking themselves over at what happened. "_Was that an illusion?_"

"Fu fu fu, I am the goddess of life and death. As I can kill you a thousand times I can easily bring you back a thousand times" taunted Izanami. "It wouldn't be much fun if you all died this easily."

The blond jinchuriki was speechless at the incredible difference in power between them and her. Even with sage mode he was pretty sure that wouldn't even come close to denting her. But this was the one battle the group couldn't afford to lose no matter what. So with their resolve the former team seven charged in with all they had.

But it proved to be in vain after so many countless attempts. With each technique and strategy the group tried they would always end up dead only to repeat the process over again. After dying for the nth time they were feeling rather dishearten from fighting anymore.

"It's hopeless" said Sakura as her body shivered from being brought back to life moments ago.

Sasuke body also shook after recovering moments ago. His Sharigan eyes confirmed he definitely died all those times. On top of that his deaths were extremely painful each time he attempted to use any of his Shinto god techniques. Tsukiyomi didn't have any affect. Amaterasu didn't come out as he had that eye plucked out each time before getting decapitated. Using Sussano was a battle of will power since Izanami would physically peel his battle avatar away only to kill him the moment she did.

Naruto was also in pretty bad condition. Although his body was OK his spirit was feeling the stress of it. Just as Itachi warned Izanami really didn't like him for his connection to Hinata. Each time they crossed paths the fallen goddess would rip out one of his organs each time to ensure maximum pain but not death. His most recent death was having the evil deity stab her arm into his chest as she very slowly crushed his heart making sure he felt every moment of it before it was a pudding in her hand.

"Fu fu fu, this will be the last time we fight" smirked Izanami. "When you die this time you'll be placed into the eternal darkness below to eternally fall there. But don't worry I'll take you out once in a while to play with."

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura got back onto their feet. Even though their chances of dying again were high they were sure as hell as going to make her work for it.

"But I think I have a far more interesting way of killing you this time" said Izanami. Out from her shadow appeared the girl they came to rescue.

"Hinata" said Naruto breathlessly. The girl before him now was dressed in dark armor and tattoos. Furthermore she was far more paler then her usual appearance. As she approached them her face maintained an emotionless state as she appeared not to recognize them anymore.

"If a god couldn't rescue me then how can a pitiful human rescue her?" she said with animus eyes.

The Hyuga heiress extended her hand forming a large evil chakra blade as she then dashed forward in a joust. "Hinata! Stop!" called Naruto as he moved away

Sakura then jumped in an attempt to restrain her friend. "Hinata, you need to snap out of it!" But the words did not go through as she threw the pink kunoichi off and countered with a cross slash. Sakura managed to pull back enough to only receive a shallow cut along stomach area.

Sasuke wanting to end this quickly went for a quick attack from behind. Although Hinata was not herself she was still the owner of the Byakugan and easily saw him coming. The two individuals duel it out with their swords. However Sasuke was at the disadvantage with how incredibly strong her sword was. But as the young Uchiha was at a standoff with his opponent, "_that idiot definitely won't let me hear the end of this one_". As soon as the swords were cleared he let loose Amaterasu. The soul was an immortal existence right? So attacking to kill should be fine as long as the opponent is exhausted in the end.

Hinata anticipated this as she dissipated her sword and body flickered away from the attack. The Sharingan user shut his left eye as he looked around with his right to where his target ran off too. Then sensing killing intent he turned around and let her have it at full. Upon impact the target disappeared the moment Amaterasu touched her. "Shit! A clone!"

His realization came too late as Hinata was now point blank behind him and unleashed her Jyuken on her target. "_Damn it! She sealed my chakra!_" as Sasuke landed on the ground from the attack. He then rolled himself over to see the Hyuga heiress ready to finish him off. But thankfully Naruto tackled her away before she could land her hit.

The blond ninja mounted her waist as he pinned her arms to the ground. "_What do I do?_" But his thoughts were cut short as Hinata unleashed a shockwave forcing him off. Naruto then formed hundreds of clones as Hinata summoned her sword back.

The corrupt girl swung away as she cut through all those who approached her.

Naruto did everything he could not to hurt her. But by the way things were looking she was more likely going to hurt him. "_What do I do?_" he thought again. Words no longer had any meaning as the Hyuga heiress was like a machine doing as she was ordered. Furthermore her aura gave no signature that the Hinata he knew was still in there. Naruto's face tightened as he didn't know what he should do now. Even by some chance that they could subdue her Izanami wasn't going to just let them walk right out of her domain. "_Shit! What do I do?_" as he looked down.

Then realization dawned on him as he might have a possible solution for this dilemma. "I guess this is all I can do" he chuckled as he dispelled all his clones.

Hinata saw as all the duplicates disappeared just leaving the original standing before her. At seeing her target, she dashed forward intending to stab her opponent. But strangely enough to her battle instincts her enemy was not moving as he just stood there with open arms. As her blade punctured through his chest followed by her arm the boy coughed up blood, but still offered no resistance. The next thing confused her as she then found herself in a hug and felt the boy smile on the side of her face.

"Release" chanted Naruto with a specific hand seal. With that move the toad sage's mark lifted off his body, and at that action he swiftly slammed his hand onto the floating insignia towards Hinata abdomen electrifying her in the process.

"Ahhhhhh!" she screamed in pain as the holy seal affected her current state. However she could not move away as the blond boy hugged her tightly keeping her from escaping.

"It's my turn to save you now . . . . Hinata" said Naruto as he could feel his strength slip away.

Seconds passed as the seal began to peel the armor and tattoos away followed by her sword. After some time her soul was now completely purged of evil as she was once again radiating her light and warmth. As she relaxed into Naruto's arms she looked up to see his smiling face.

"Naruto-kun . . . ." said Hinata as tears began to form in her eyes. "You came! You really came and rescued me!" as her arms swung over his neck hugging him back.

"Ha ha ha, of course what did you think I would do" he smiled. But soon after blood shot out his mouth as he could no longer hold back the pain.

Hinata gasped as Naruto leaned on her. She then laid him down using her lap to rest his head. "What have I done . . . ." as she started to feel choked up with sorrow at remembering her last action.

"Tsk" remarked Izanami. Her stomach twisted with disgust at viewing the act of love before her. Using her powers she lifted Hinata up and began to drag her back towards herself. "I will not allow such a revolting thing to occur before me! You will all suffer for this!"

But before any further action could occur the twisted deity found herself in a tight grasp within a giant red chakra arm. "Naruto-kun!" Hinata cried out at seeing her lover get up. Before her and the deity's eyes, his wounds were regenerating as they closed up leaving no injury behind.

Hinata was released from Izanami's hold. As she made her way back, Naruto looked to her with yellow slant eyes instead of his usual baby blue.

"Sasuke, Sakura, can you two still move?" Naruto called

"Yeah we can still move" Sakura answered as she was still working on getting Sasuke's chakra channels working again.

"I will buy you some time. So take Hinata and escape with everyone else" as more of his tails began to grow in.

"Are you stupid? We can't leave you behind like this!"

"There is no more time for debate! I won't be able to control the Kyubbi's power for long!" During this time, Izanami kept destroying his body as he repeatedly regenerated with the demon foxes power.

"No! I won't leave you behind!" screamed Hinata. "All that you sacrificed for my sake I can't leave you like this!"

Naruto turned his head as he smiled towards them. "It's OK now, this is what I decided to do." The blond ninja gave a slight chuckle. "I guess I won't be able to give you my answer huh"

"Don't ignore me!" yelled Izanami as her evil aura shrouded the entire area. Naruto collapsed to his knees as he attempted to keep more tails from forming. But alas the stress was too great as a mass of demonic chakra shot from his chest and formed the Kyubbi's head. "I guess this is all I can manage."

"Naruto-kun!"

"Naruto!"

"You idiot!"

In that instant several chakra spiked chains appeared on the blonds body at it shot out and wrapped themselves around the evil youki pulling back towards it owner. "What is happening to Naruto-kun?" asked Hinata at seeing the incredible display before her.

The moment the demonic chakra was pulled in those same chains appeared around the evil goddess as it shot up and wrapped around her anchoring her in place. In that exact same time a red-haired woman seemed to have literally walked right out of Naruto. The instant she appeared she dashed towards the goddess in her fighting stance. Izanami seeing the incoming attack blasted the red-haired woman creating a smoke screen. But it did not stop her as she was now point blank to her. Now within zero distance she struck the goddess on the stomach marking her with a familiar spiral seal.

"Amatsu souzousha fuin no jutsu" said the woman as a spiral with several insignias appeared on the goddesses stomach. Izanami attempted to blast her away, but nothing happened. "What have you done to me?"

The red-haired woman smirked at her handiwork. "You can thank Izanagi-sama for it. He helped me design the seal that would put a lid on your powers."

"Izanagi!" she screeched as she began to struggle against the chains.

Hinata immediately rushed towards Naruto helping him to his legs as he was still recovering from whatever the heck just happened to him.

"How are you doing kiddo?" asked the red-haired woman as she was now standing before him.

"I'm OK now I guess. Whatever you did seemed to have quieted the Kyubbi down." Naruto then looked up to see the woman's face. "Wait, I saw you. Back in the last circle, you were in the reflection right next to dad. Who are you?"

The red-haired woman gave a slight chuckle to this. "My name is Kushina and to cut long stories short I'm your mom."

"What?" said everyone, even Sasuke as he was caught up in the moment.

"My chains won't hold for long and Izanami still has a good deal of power left. If we're going to win this then we better do this now" said Kushina "We can talk about everything else later"

Sasuke taking his cue activated his Sussano and crashed its fist right onto the former divine being. However a low rumble was created as Izanami barely picked the giant's fist up. Her body then began to mutate into a grotesque form between rotting human flesh and an amalgam of several different demon body parts. As her mutation finished she grew to the equivalent height of Sasuke battle avatar as the two began to exchange punches. But Sasuke was losing more power as Sussano had to endure the energy hits Izanami shot at it.

"Sasuke! Take this!" called Naruto as he threw Itachi's mirror at him. The avatar grasped the mirror as it started to take shape as a shield on its forearm. The two giants were now equally paired, but the young Uchiha was still at a disadvantage for how much power it took to keep Sussano there.

"I'm going to back him up. So join in when you can" said Sakura as she ran in and entered Sussano to maintain Sasuke's health and chakra reserves.

"I better get going then" said Naruto as he was about to run off.

However Kushina stopped him from going any further. "We need to end this battle in one move. Although I sealed her powers she is still a goddess and will eventually overcome it."

"Then what do you think we should?" asked Naruto

Kushina got into her thinking pose and immediately got an idea. "We're going to use your Rasenshuriken."

"How do you know about that?"

"Long story, but that technique should be enough to finish her off"

"But this world quickly eats up sage mode. I won't have enough time to make it before I time out!" said Naruto

"Then we'll just have to split the work down between the three of us" said Kushina as she looked towards Hinata to which she reacted with surprise.

"But neither of you know how to prepare to move!" said Naruto

"Trust me, just leave the form for me to handle. So you'll just need one bushin to handle the manipulation while you take care of powering it. Hinata-chan, if my intuition is right your element will help too in this final grand attack" said Kushina.

"Ehh!" stuttered Hinata, "are you sure about this Uzumaki-san?" The Hyuga heiress was not only surprised about being included on this plan, but also the fact that her crushes mother was talking to her.

Kushina winked at her, "You'll do great kiddo. You're the kind of girl my son needs in his life right now."

"Mom! Now's not the time!"

"Right, right OK mission start!" and on note Naruto activated his final sage mode and began preparing his Rasenshuriken. Just as planned, Kushina began forming the ball as Hinata and the clone invested their nature manipulation while Naruto supplied the power. As the technique began to form he could feel his hand getting colder.

" . . . . You've done great Naruto. Know that your father and I are proud of you" smiled Kushina

"Mom . . . ."

"Alright everything is complete. Now show that divine bitch what an Uzumaki can do dattebane!"

Naruto chuckled, "Alright dattebayo!"

"Sasuke! Sakura! Clear the way!" to which Sussano immediately deactivated as the two ninjas cleared the path. "Here I go, Hyoton! Rasenshuriken!"

"Do you think I'll allow that to touch me!" said Izanami at seeing the incoming attack. But before she could move chains sprang up bounding her body.

"Not so fast!" said Kushina as she formed a seal in front of her

As the attack connected a giant sphere of ice was created as it completely encircled the fallen goddess. Strike by strike Izanami's body began to freeze on the cellular level. After a few seconds the attack ended with the evil deity as an ice sculpture which signified the end to the ninjas long and hard battle.

"We did it!" cheered Sakura as she hugged Sasuke. But immediately broke off at how awkward it was.

"We won" smiled Naruto

"Thank goodness" smiled Hinata

"It's so great to be young" said Kushina at looking over the youths around her. "Well we better get going; your friends are waiting for you above."

"Yeah" replied Naruto. But just before they could leave an enormous quake was felt as Izanami began to shake.

"Impossible!" exclaimed Sakura

"Go now! The way back up is there! Hurry and escape!" said Kushina as she turned around and began wrapping Izanami in chains once again

The four teens began to run for it before Naruto stopped dead in his track. "Naruto what are you doing we have to go!" said Sakura

"My mom is still here! I let her to deal with this herself!" he responded

"She knows what she is doing! We have to go now!" then said Sasuke

"No! I have to stay and help!" Naruto rebutted

"This is no time for your stubbornness Naruto!" said Sakura

"Just go on ahead I'll be right behind you!"

"And where you go I go too" added in Hinata

"No! You go with them!"

The Hyuga heiress stood her ground as this was one decision she was not going to change her mind about. Naruto stared back but soon rubbed his head in frustration, "fine, just stay close then"

"Alright, well head up first so hurry up OK" said Sakura

"Got it" said Naruto as he and Hinata ran back towards the battle grounds.

"Why did you come back?" called Kushina as she saw the two rush towards her.

"We couldn't just leave you here to deal with this on your own" said Naruto

"Please Uzumaki-san, let us help you" said Hinata

Kushina sweated profusely as she tried to keep Izanami bounded. "If you're going to say that then give me any extra chakra you have left because this bitch is quite a handful"

"I will not be beaten by the likes of you!" said Izanami as she had just recently regained control of her head.

More chains began to appear as Naruto and Hinata poured any reserve energy they had into Kushina. But it did not stop her from rampaging as her powers began to randomly destroy to area around them. Unluckily she destroyed something that was most crucial for their escape.

"The exit!" said Hinata at seeing the path completely annihilated

"Tsk , so annoying" said Kushina as she finally stopped Izanami's rampage however the quakes still continued.

"What do we do?" said Naruto "That was the only way out of here!"

"Don't worry there is still one more" said Kushina as the center ring of the area began to glow. "Go over there! It'll take you away from here!"

"What about you?" asked Naruto

"Don't worry about me. I already have a way to escape. Your job now is to protect Hinata-chan right? So go, and don't worry about your friends I'll give them the signal to escape" answered Kushina

Naruto with a heavy heart turned as he grabbed Hinata's hand and made his way towards the center ring. As they both stood on it he looked back to see his mother smiling at him. Although he couldn't hear her he knew her final words were "I'll be seeing you later."

In one brilliant flash of light Naruto and Hinata were no longer in Inferno

* * *

~Place: Unknown~

"Where are we?" asked Naruto as he looked at the new surroundings. The place they were now was a definite improvement to hell as the area was like a lakeside forest which led towards a mountain that extended towards a brightly lit sky. He then looked down to the Hyuga heiress as he was still holding her tightly.

"Are you alright? Hinata?" asked Naruto. As he looked she appeared to be crying

"I'm so happy that you came for me" said Hinata. "But it is already too late."

Naruto's heart began to sink as whatever she had to say couldn't be good. "Hinata, what are you talking about? What do you mean too late?"

The Hyuga girl looked up as tears clouded her eyes. "I've already died Naruto-kun . . . . there is no way I can go back with you".

The blond ninja could only express shock at this news. "It can't be . . . ."

* * *

Author's notes: Don't worry it won't end sadly. I'll give it a happy ending. The last chapter will wrap everything up towards the final conclusion.

So I thank you for your time in reading this fic and further extend my gratitude if you can review it as well.


	11. Hereafter

Chapter 11: Hereafter

Synopsis: Naruto has finally reached the end of his journey. With his friends who supported him as well as his strong determination, he was capable of conquering the impossible and doing the unbelievable. But now at the finish line why can't Hinata be saved? With all that Naruto had gone through to get there will he truly allow it to end this way?

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Naruto franchise or characters associated with it. I also do not own any part of the 14th century Italian divine comedy Dante's Inferno.

"talking"

_thoughts_

_

* * *

_

~Place: Unknown~

"What are you talking about Hinata?" Naruto chuckled thinking it was a joke. "We just saved you and everything".

"I can't go back with you Naruto-kun because . . . . I've already died" replied Hinata sadly.

The blond shinobi grasped her shoulders as he looked intently into her eyes. "That can't be true! Your body is still alive back on Earth. So there is still a chance for you to come back to us".

The Hyuga heiress looked down sadly. "My spirit is already too weak to make it back . . . . I would not be able to endure the trip".

"I don't understand!" exploded Naruto. "We've gone through too much to give up now!"

Hinata looked away again as she hugged herself. "Naruto-kun . . . . I just can't . . . . I'm simply too weak to go back now . . . . Izanami had severely weakened my life force which anchored me to my body. I would not be able to stay . . . . "

"Wait! That can't be right! We were! We were . . . . We were . . . ." said Naruto as realization dawned on him. Izanami had held her captive for so long, torturing and corrupting her, and not only that, Inferno was a place which drained life force energy the same in how it ate away his sage chakra. But the final straw must have been her purification. Ripping off all that malevolent energy must've taken whatever little life force she had left to endure it. "It can't be . . . ."

"I'm sorry Naruto-kun for you having to risk so much for . . . . " but before Hinata could finish she was wrapped into a tight hug. The Hyuga heiress blushed at the action but then took notice that he was also crying. "Naruto-kun?"

"It isn't fair" sniffled Naruto. "It isn't fair that this had to happen. Why? Why can't I save you?" as he held her tighter. "After all we've been through, after all that fighting, after all these hardships why couldn't I save you?"

Hinata sensed his grief as her face began to contort into tears. She then smothered her face into his chest as she began to sob while hugging him back in return. "_I'm so sorry Naruto-kun . . . ._"

They continued to hold each other as they silently cried. Even though Hinata stood right there in his grasp she felt so far from him now. No matter how tight he held on she wouldn't be able to stay.

"I'm sorry . . . . Hinata. This all happened to you because of my own stupidity. If only I was more careful then none of this had to happen" said Naruto. "Can you forgive me . . . .?"

Hinata softly pushed away from him as she shook her head. "You're not stupid Nauto-kun and it isn't your fault. I made these choices on the basis of my own free will" as she caressed her hand on his cheek.

"But?"

"I don't have any regrets" she interjected. "Everything I've ever done was because I loved you". She then gave a light chuckle. "But I guess that makes me a fool for doing all those reckless things".

The blond shinobi reengaged his hug once more. "You're not fool! You're not . . . . "

"Naruto-kun . . . ." said Hinata as she hugged him back. This was the first time he had ever held her so closely. Holding him now she could feel the warmth radiating off him as if his feelings were being conveyed in such a manner. She held on tightly not wanting to let go of this feeling. However this was one thing she knew she couldn't do.

After a while the two separated as they looked around. "Where are we now? Is this Paradiso?"

Hinata shook her head. "This is Purgatory Naruto-kun. This is where souls go to as a purification before they go there" as she pointed to the mountain leading into the sky.

"Purification?" asked Naruto

"It doesn't matter" she then said. "I have to go now because I'm being called there".

As Hinata was about to leave, "Can I . . . . can I accompany you there?" asked Naruto. The pale girl smiled as she nodded for his company.

"But before that . . . ." said Naruto as he turned away with a blush with slight blood trickling down his nose. "Maybe you should . . . . " as he pointed at her.

"Ehh? Ehh?" she responded as her face lit up in deep crimson. In her spirit form she didn't have any cloths. The meant she was completely stark naked before him. Hinata immediately turned away as she covered her chest and nether region.

"Uhh, here" stuttered Naruto as he passed her his jacket. The Hyuga heiress immediately took it as she put it on. Unfortunately it was too damaged to put on directly. So with some slight modifications she managed to rework the clothing to cover herself . . . . more or less. After a slight moment of awkwardness the two teens began their trip together.

As they walked side by side with each other another awkward silence took the both of them since neither really knew what to say. Naruto had no idea how to talk to a girl he failed to protect and Hinata was being either too shy to speak up or possibly still embarrassed from being seen.

"_This might be the last time . . . ._" she thought. "_I at least want to do it once_"

"Naruto-kun . . . . "

"Yes?" replied Naruto

"Can I . . . . ask a favor of you?"

"What is it?"

"Can you . . . .can you . . . . can you . . . ." she said as she began to shy away.

"What is it Hinata?" asked Naruto

"_This will most likely be the last chance I have!_" and with great courage, "Will you hold hands with me?" she blurted.

"Huh?".

Hinata jumped back and covered her mouth in embarrassment. "I'm sorry for the strange request!" she immediately apologized.

The blond shinobi gave a slight chuckle before smiling softly. "Sure".

The pale girl blushed deeply as she slowly extended her hand. Naruto continued to smile as he reached to grasp her hand. Hinata shivered at the sensation but soon relaxed into it as she smiled and blushed.

The two continued to walk down the path hand in hand. But this time the silence was more pleasant as they enjoyed each other's presence.

Soon they both reached the mountain that extended into the sky. The rocky terrain was enormous. It would take time to reach the top. However they both knew this would be the final moments they would have with each other. So anything they wanted to say must be said now or forever hold their peace.

As they began their climb, a particular question jumped into the blond as this was something he wanted to understand since the time he came to learn of it. "Hinata . . . . how did you ever love an idiot like me?"

Hinata blushed at the question, but then gave a light chuckle. She should have expected that question since it was common sense. I mean they never really talked or anything and then just out of the blue she confessed her love for him.

She then looked down with a smile. "Do you . . . . remember the first time we met?"

The blond jinchuriki thought about this carefully. But to be honest as he thought about every encounter they had he only officially met her during the chunnin exams. However he knew that couldn't be the right answer since even then her reaction was still the same as it is now.

A solemn look then appeared on her face. "Well I wouldn't expect you to remember it clearly after that day" as she remembered it fondly.

Naruto looked to her curiously. He didn't recall meeting her at all during his childhood. So when was it that they met?

"That day many years ago . . . . I had a match with my little sister Hanabi. But I lost and ran away after being told how weak I was by father. I ended up in the forest, but when I got there three bullies found me and started to pick on me" said Hinata. "But that's when you appeared to save me".

A light bulb then lit in his head. As he recalled that memory he did remember saving a dark haired girl from three boys who were picking on her. However he then gave a sour look as he remembered it clearly now. "Not exactly my coolest moment" as he recalled that incident. In that confrontation he attempted and failed miserably at using his bushin jutsu to scare the boys off and then immediately got the stuffing beaten out of him as he became unconsciousness.

"But your words inspired me. Even though you faced bad odds you never gave up and continued to fight no matter how bleak it looked" she then said. "Even aftert that day when my caretaker told me never to see you again I couldn't. Your determination and will drew me to you to whom I could never take my eyes off of".

Naruto blushed at the flattering comments. "It really wasn't much, I just wanted to be Hokage so that everyone would come to accept me as who I am" he chuckled.

"I knew that, since that day I've been watching you as you worked so hard day after day to accomplish your dreams, and I still continued to watch even after we entered the ninja academy" she smiled.

Slight warmth then lit in his chest. The longest time, he had always been alone during his childhood. No one would talk to him, no one would pay attention to him, and no one would even look at him. But here was this girl who had been watching him for the longest time since they were kids and that did mean something to him. But then that only brought more questions, "why didn't you come to talk to me?"

Hinata blushed at this, "I didn't . . . . really know what to say. I still had problems with my own confidence in which I didn't know how to approach you". She then looked down sadly. "But if I knew then that you were hurting so much I would have approached you sooner . . . . "

Naruto gave a solemn look. "It's OK, you didn't know".

The Hyuga heiress gave a smile to this.

"But how were you so certain about what you felt about me?" he then asked.

"I wasn't" said Hinata. "At first when I met you your presence gave me inspiration to try harder. From that day I couldn't stop seeing you. But as I grew older my feelings for you started to become more like a crush. When you talked to me at the training grounds, I knew for sure then that I liked you. But when you left for those two years that's when I knew how I really felt".

Naruto gave a shocked look, but then turned it into a smile.

The pair was now close to the top as they were nearing the gates to Paradiso. So time was short for the two, but there was still so much that has not been said yet. But if this was going to be her final moments there was something she wanted to know if it were the last thing on Earth.

"Naruto-kun . . . . how do you feel about me?" Hinata asked as her eyes became shadowed under her bangs.

Naruto gave a surprised expression. He looked away briefly before looking back to her. ". . . . I'm not actually sure".

Those words made her heart sink. I mean he could have just lied about it. Truth is she wouldn't have known the difference.

But then, that would be very uncharacteristic if he lied about his feelings. Plus it would be far too cruel to say it and not really mean it as a final parting gift.

Naruto noticed her growing depression. However he had more to say, much more. "But honestly . . . . you're the only person who had ever seen . . . . me. That time before the chunnin tournament you encouraged me to give it my all no matter how bad it looked and no matter how many people said I was going to lose. Even though I didn't believe, you still believed in me and cheered me on to victory. In my entire life, I had never shown that side to anyone. Not Sakura, not Sasuke, not Kakashi-sensei, and not even Ero-sannin".

The Hyuga heiress started feeling a bit light hearted. That was something only she knew, and it kind of made her feel more special. This was something only the two of them shared together. It was the first time she truly talked to him. That moment was something she would never forget since her heart couldn't stop beating erratically, not to mention she was frozen stiff from bliss that he actually complimented her.

"But when you told me how you felt I wasn't really sure how to react. Even after that I still wasn't sure how I was supposed to respond, and . . . . I ended up postponing it until I gotten my own life straightened out. But I do really care for you and all, and if we had a little more time and things calmed down at Konoha . . . . I really would have liked to explore the chance to see where this bond would've taken us . . . . Hinata-chan" smiled Naruto as a tear came down his cheek.

The pale girl began to cry in both joy and sadness. The fact was there was a chance that they could be together . . . . but only if there was time. She was dead now and they had already arrived at the gates to the new world.

"I guess this is good-bye" she cried

"Hinata . . . ." cried Naruto

The pair then embraced each other.

This might have been the last time they could.

"But it isn't your time yet"

The teen ninjas looked back to a dark haired woman who seemed to be standing at the threshold of the gate. The blond ninja looked to her awe. However his companion had a different reaction.

"Okaasan!" exclaimed Hinata

The woman smiled as she stepped forward from the gate. "I knew I would meet you here if I just waited".

"But how did you know I would be here okaasan?" she then asked.

"I've been watching over you for a long time" said Hinata's mother. "I watched as you grew up, I watched as you trained hard every day, I even watched as your dashing friend broke into Inferno to rescue you". Naruto gave an awkward chuckle as the elder woman smiled to him. "But it's not your time to go yet Hinata-chan. You still have so much left to live for".

"But I used the scroll okaasan, and because of that I can't go back anymore!" said Hinata as she looked down sadly.

The elder woman raised her face as she looked into her eyes. "What you did was out of love, and you shouldn't be punished for that".

"I can't go back anymore; my spirit is too weak to make the journey" she cried.

The woman simply continued to smile. "That's why someone just has to carry you there". She then pushed her daughter into Naruto as she seemed to disappear right before his eyes.

"Where did she go?" said Naruto.

"My daughter is now resting inside your soul, don't worry she's fine".

The blond shinobi settled at the answer, but then another concern immediately rose up. "But wait how do I get back to the living world? Kakashi-sensei was my only way back and I'm not sure reverse summoning can take me back home".

"That's where I come in"

Naruto turned his attention back to the gate as his face displayed absolute surprise. "Dad?"

Minato Namikaze, the yondaime, the yellow flash of Konoha, the greatest Hokage who had ever lived walked from the gate to his son with a smile on his face. "It's good to see you again Naruto"

"Dad . . . . I have so much I want to say . . . ." he choked out.

"There is no time for that" interjected Minato. "Time will not permit you to stay in this world as this place is only meant for the dead". He then handed Naruto a peculiar looking kunai as he formed a few seals. "I'm going to send you back now to Konoha. So go and finish the mission you started".

"But wait! What happened to mom? Why isn't she here with you?" he then asked.

Minato gave a solemn expression. "You'll come to understand when the time comes for you to embrace your destiny. So don't worry, your mother is where she should be".

"Hold on! How am I supposed to put Hinata's soul back into her body?" he then exclaimed.

Hinata's mother continued to smile. "The same way in how a prince wakes up his sleeping princess" she giggled.

"Ehh!" but before he could say anything more he was pulled through time, space, and reality as he soon found himself in a vast forest.

"Where am I now?" he then asked as he looked around.

After a quick look it became quite clear where he was. Minato had transported him to the outskirts of Konoha only about two hundred meters away from the nearest gate.

"I better get going" said Naruto as he started to run off.

The blond shinobi started his mad dash towards home. Within a few minutes he arrived at the gate to find his friends there waiting for him.

He stopped as they voiced their relief of his return. "Thank goodness you're OK, but where have you been Naruto? And where is Hinata?" asked Sakura

Naruto scanned the group before looking back. "I'll explain later . . . . but where's Sasuke?"

"He left as soon as we got here. Man, he really made a blitz for it as soon as he realized he was in the heart of Konoha" explained Kiba.

"But it seemed we missed our chance to capture him" said Sai stoically.

"That's fine" as he took out his compass. "We can find him later when we need too, but now I have to go see to more pressing matters"

Naruto immediately broke out into a run towards Konoha hospital. As he ran, anxiety began to overtake him. He wasn't worried that Hinata would not be able to recover, but what he had to do to make it work. If things couldn't get any more awkward how was he going to explain that to the occupants of the room?

"I assume the mission was successful?" smirked Tsunade. In the room with her was Hinata's father and little sister who were waiting for his arrival as well as the good news.

"Yeah" smiled Naruto.

"Where is she? Where is my daughter?" then asked Hiashi as if he was glaring at him.

The boy then placed his hand over his heart. "She's right here, all I have to do now is place her soul where it belongs".

"Then what are you waiting for? Proceed already" said Hiashi.

Naruto face turned red as he looked away while scratching his cheek. "Uhh, I can't . . . ."

The head Hyuga looked to him suspiciously. "What are you talking about?"

"Well I ah . . . . I kind of need to do this ritual alone" stuttered Naruto.

"Why?" asked Tsunade. "Is there something wrong with it?"

"No! It's just . . . . complicated to do when I'm around other people" he then said.

Hanabi maintained her neutral expression. She was curious to why the blond who was usually so full of confidence was becoming so flustered before them. Well at least that's what she thought from her first impression not to mention how her sister always seemed to obsessively talk about him. But she then shrugged it off as a personality quirk.

Tsunade scanned him as well, but she honestly didn't know what could have gotten him so worked up. However the sooner he finished the less paper that had to be done. "Alright, we'll be waiting right outside. Just hurry up with what you have to do".

Naruto nodded as she along with the Hyuga's left the room. As soon as they were gone Naruto took a seat next to her as he prepared himself for the daunting task he was about to undertake.

"_For some reason this doesn't seem right_" he thought as he began to sweat. "_I mean wasn't there any other way to put her soul back?_"

Naruto's body began to shake as he prepared himself to do something that was morally (or was it ethically) wrong. "_Why couldn't there be another way to do this?_" as he wept inside.

I mean he didn't object to kissing, but . . . . wouldn't he be doing something against her will? Shouldn't she at least be aware that her first kiss was going to be like this? But wait was this her first kiss? Hmm, she did say he was the only guy for her so it definitely would be her first time. Doesn't that make it even more wrong that he was going to steal her virgin lips like that?

"_But it has to be like this_" thought Naruto as he resolved himself. "_And . . . . I don't think Hinata would mind it being like this . . . ._"

The young blond picked himself up as he hovered over Hinata's face. As he got closer he could feel her shallow breaths as her body was still in suspension. Little by little as he leaned in, his attention took notice of her face. Such a peaceful expression, even in such a state there was an ethereal beauty about her he had never noticed before. Her features were indeed the definition of perfection. Fare skin, a petite face, curly eyelashes, and lips that begged to be kissed.

"_Hinata . . . ._" he thought as he was only centimeters away from sharing their first kiss.

"I apologize, but I forgot my book in here and . . . . what are you doing?" said Hanabi as she suddenly opened the door to see the pair in the room.

"Ah, nothing" stuttered Naruto as he was now nervously sitting in his seat again.

Hanabi looked to him curiously but then mentally shrugged as she went to go pick up her book. "Please hurry, I would really like to see Hinata-neesan back on her feet again"

"Don't worry, she'll be fine after I finish the ritual" smiled Naruto nervously.

The young Hyuga found his expression to be odd, but then shook it off as she left the room closing the door behind her.

Naruto sighed, "I _think fighting monsters in hell was easier than this. But I have to do this for Hinata's sake_".

He then picked himself up again as he leaned forward attempting to finish the mission. "_This is all for her_" he thought over and over again as he inched closer to her lips. Just a moment away from contact . . . .

"Hey is Hinata OK yet? How is she doing ? . . . . Hmm?" said Sakura as she looked quizzically at the scene before her.

"It's getting there" chuckled Naruto as he began to sweat profusely from his seat.

The pink kunoichi looked to him curiously and slightly annoyed at the same time. "Then what's taking so long? Do you need some medical guidance or something?"

The blond immediately shook his head. "No ,no, no I got it covered I just need to be alone when I do this"

"Why?" she asked

"Umm because . . . . it's something that won't work with people watching" said Naruto nervously.

Sakura raised her eyebrow at the odd response. But if that's what it took then she could accept that. "Alright, hurry up then" as she left and closed the door behind her.

The blond shinobi immediately jumped up and prepared his kiss as she left wanting to get it over with before he completely lost his nerve. "_I can't take anymore of this. I have to do it before another person comes through that door_"

But as if fate was kicking him in the ass . . . .

"Naruto, how is my cousin doing? What is her current condition?" asked Neji as he entered the room.

"Fine, she's just fine. The ritual is almost complete" Naruto said quickly wanting the guy to leave already.

Neji looked around to see no difference in the room and sensed no unusual fluctuations of chakra. He looked back to the blond for an explanation.

"You may not be able to see it, but it is under way. But I can't finish it if people are watching" responded Naruto.

The Hyuga prodigy scrunched his eyes to compute the information he was just told. "Is it some sort of special jutsu that you need to do alone with her?"

"Yes! Yes! That's exactly it. So I need to be alone to make this technique work" exclaimed the blond.

"I see" said Neji, "please do hurry". He then turned and exited the room.

Naruto immediately put his face in front of the sleeping girl waiting to see if anyone else was going to interrupt them.

Minutes passed as no one else entered the room to which he began to calm down allowing his paranoia to subside. "_Please no more interruptions, my body can't take it_" he thought.

The blond slowly lowered his head as his heart began to race. As he got closer his consciousness balanced between nervousness and excitement. But there was no stopping now and it wasn't because of his want to finish the mission. Although it was for Hinata, a part of him couldn't deny that he wanted to taste her. "_I wonder if we'll be able to do this again properly when she wakes up_".

Finally after what seemed like hours of anticipation their lips finally met as the young Uzumaki slowly pressed onto her. "_How nice . . . ._"

Time passed and nothing seemed to have been happening. "Why aren't you waking up?" he asked softly.

But before he could say anymore two arms seemed to have wrapped around his head and pulled him down harshly into a very forceful kiss. His eyes widened in shock at the action. "You're awake!"

Hinata's eyes opened slightly as they seemed to be slightly glazed. "That was amazing Naruto-kun. Let's do it again".

"I don't think I was that good" chuckled Naruto as he slightly blushed.

"What are you talking about Naruto-kun" Hinata whined a bit. "We do it all the time when we're alone". The Hyuga heiress then looked around the room as a dreamy smile then began to spread on her face. "It seems like my favorite one, the hospital dream".

"Ehh? Wait Hinata! This isn't a dream this is really happening!" exclaimed Naruto as his face began to flare.

"Not a dream?" said Hinata wearily. She then shook her head. "It can't be this feels too good to not be a dream". She then dragged his head down for another kiss to which the boy had very little power to resist.

"Wait! You have to stop" Naruto panicked. But he could not say anymore as he had his mouth full with her tongue. The pale girl then dragged him onto the bed and turned over as she now laid on top of him. Hinata held his shirt tightly as she deepened her kiss with the boy still believing this was her fantasy world. Her tongue began to dance with his as she slightly moaned from how exciting the experience was.

Naruto was hanging on the edge of how incredible this feeling was. He fought very hard not to fall unconscious at the extreme advances of the delusional girl. "_I never knew she was this skilled!_" as he blushed deeply at how excited he was beginning to feel. "_Oh god, things can't get any weirder then this_".

As if fate was giving him a second round in the ass . . . . .

"Hey Naruto! Aren't you done . . . . !"

The blond ninja glanced to the side to see that everyone was now in the room.

Tsunade, Kiba, Chouji, and Lee's mouth hung open at seeing the action before them.

Tenten and Ino gave a slight blush while cupping their cheeks at seeing how bold the two behaved in a public hospital.

Sai, Shino, Shikamaru, Neji, and Hanabi looked on stoically. But strange enough the young Hyuga seemed to have been holding a camera as she took a picture of the pair doing some very provocative things.

But Naruto felt very scared as he felt the killing intent of two people in the room.

"What do you think you're doing?" asked Hiashi venomously and he began to crack his fingers.

"You better explain yourself now Naruto" Sakura added in sweetly as she cracked her knuckles.

"It's, it's, it's not what it looks like! I swear! This is all just a misunderstanding! Isn't that right Hinata? Say something!" he panicked as he attempted to get up.

"Oh Naruto-kun, please touch me there again"

'Wait! She didn't mean that. No wait!"

The room exploded into several emotions which caused chaos for a while. But one thing was for certain that everyone was overjoyed that Hinata was able to return to them. Naruto was definitely the happiest since he was able to keep his promise and save the girl who loved him so dearly.

* * *

~Paradiso~ (omake)

Two men watched from the heavens at they saw the scene below. One smiled for their accomplishment while the other smiled for a bit of a different reason.

"Huu huu huu, your kid is one lucky brat to get a girl like that. I wish I could've added a scene like this into my Icha Icha series" said Jiraiya as he gave a perverted grin.

Minato sighed, "Sensei, I wish you would stop that, you know what will happen if you keep doing it".

"What are you talking about?" asked Jiraiya curiously.

"You keep peeping into the woman's bath in every country of the world. I know you can't be caught in your current state. But it's still wrong" said Minato.

"Hey you should lighten up. This is heaven right? Why can't we have a little fun up here?" smirked the frog sannin.

Then a pale slender hand appeared on the man's shoulder to which he started to feel a scary aura. He then looked back to see Hinata's mother smile creepily at him as an ominous energy surrounded her.

"Jiraiya-sama, I have the highest respect for you. However if you peek in on my Hinata-chan when she's bathing and especially during her intimate moments with Naruto-kun then I promise you that I'll not only pop out your eyes but I'll personally drag you all the way to Inferno and leave you there until the end of time. Do you understand?" she smiled sweetly.

Jiraiya cringed as he gave a nervous chuckle. "Yes of course, you've made yourself perfectly clear".

Minato sighed again as he patted his head. "Sensei, how did you even get into Paradiso?"

The End

* * *

Author's notes: well that's the end and I hope everyone enjoyed the story. I also like to thank all you reviewers for your kind words and constructive criticism. I hope we'll be able to meet again another time. Also if you're wondering about the first time they met it was shown in anime version when they were kids.

So I thank you for your time in reading this fic and further extend my gratitude if you can review it as well.


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